Just A Ride
by ZenBabe
Summary: AU Peyton and Brooke go on a cruise for the summer and meet Jake and Lucas who are in college there. Mostly Jeyton, and some Brucas. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys! you may know me from my other fics that I've posted here. This story is about: Brooke and Peyton go on a LustFactor. com cruise for the summer and meet Jake and Lucas there. Mostly Jeyton, but there's some Brucas, too. I hope you guys like it!**

**OK, here's some history on the characters you should know:**

**-Everyone has the same personality as on the show.**

**-Peyton and Nathan used to date, the same relationship as in the beginning of the 1st season, it was pretty dysfunctional. But now they've ended it.**

**-Brooke and Peyton are best friends, and juniors at THH. Both are single.**

**-Jake had the whole history with Nikki back in high school, Nikki had Jenny, Jake is the father, Nikki left right after.**

**-The whole custody battle happened his senior year of high school when Nikki came back, but Jake ended up wining full-custody of Jenny and Nikki left and never came back.**

**-Lucas and Jake are best friends at NCU, they are juniors, they are 21 years old. Both are single. **

**-Lucas and Jake have never met Brooke or Peyton.**

**Alright, here we go with Chapter 1 of Just A Ride!**

**CHAPTER 1**

Peyton's POV

It's weird how my whole life I've hated things that were fake, or a lie. I don't like posers, liars, or anything like that. But I admit that can be kind of a hypocritical thing for me to say. At home and with my best friend, Brooke, I can really be myself. I don't have to have any labels: punk, bitch, brooder... But at school, for some reason I feel like I have to act part of a certain group. I have a good group of friends, that I like and everything, but in a way I have to keep my real self bottled up. I'm a cheerleader, yet not such a cheery-person. I'm fairly popular, yet I get lonely a lot. I feel like the person I am outside of school is completely different from the person I am in school. And that comes with so many issues. Like: when I meet someone, who do I want them to think I am?

When you think about it, when you meet someone new, you can be whoever you want to be. The reason why my last relationship didn't work, with a guy named Nathan, besides the fact that we were completely wrong for each other, was because we were always trying to be who everyone else wanted us to be. We were supposed to be the 'It Couple' of Tree Hill High, but we couldn't have been further away from perfection.

It's too late for me to suddenly act really myself at school, but not for people I meet outside of school. That's why I really cannot wait to go on this cruise with Brooke.

"Oh my gosh, P. Sawyer, you are going to love me!" She had said to me. It's weird because she is so cheery all the time, and I'm definitely not, yet she is my best friend and always has been.

"Why's that?" I had asked.

"I got us two tickets this summer to go on a cruise for three weeks!" She exclaimed jumping up and down. I had to laugh at her for this, but I was getting pretty excited too. See my mom died when I was young and I'm an only child, and my dad goes on a ton of business trips, so I figured my summer would be totally lame. Until I found out about this cruise. I didn't ask many questions about it, I just agreed right away to go with her.

xXxXxXx

Brooke and I were going to arrive at the doc an hour before the boat was suppose to leave, so that we didn't have to rush. But of course once Brooke saw what I had packed, she had insisted I bring some skimpier-looking clothes. Which was a little weird, even for Brooke, considering the fact that we didn't even know if anyone our age would be on the cruise. It could just be a bunch of senior citizens or something.

Anyway, we ended up getting there only five minutes before the departure. I was overwhelmed by the size of the boat. It was huge! It was white and on the side in fancy, cursive writing it had the name: _Amour_. Whatever that means...

I looked up at the entrance and there was a big, multi-colored banner there that read: "_Welcome aboard the AMOUR. Sponsored by LustFactor. com_" Wait a second...

"Brooke!" I yelled coming to a halt. She looked over at me with a innocent face. I gave her an 'I'm not falling for that' face.

"OK, don't get mad, but I-" Brooke started to say.

"You signed us up for a _love_ cruise!" I said, reminding myself to ask more questions next time Brooke invites me somewhere.

"It's not a love cruise," Brooke said not very convincingly.

"Lust, whatever. Brooke, did you put our pictures on LustFactor. com?" I asked.

"Well..." Brooke said," Not exactly. I kind of just put... yours." I opened my mouth to protest but she spoke before I could say a word. "Look, you were miserable during your relationship with Nathan, proving that you cannot pick your own guys, so might as well let the pros do it for you. They invited you on this cruise for _free_, Peyton. And you were allowed a 'plus-one', that's me." She said with a smile. OK one thing was true, I do kind of suck at finding the right guys for me, but LustFactor. com? That seems so... desperate. But before I could say something, Brooke spoke again.

"Do you have any idea how many hot guys between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five will be on that boat? Plus it's not like you have to get with any of them. You can just act like it's a fun, normal cruise." Brooke said. "Please, please please! You won't get another chance. Come on!" She said.

I thought about this for a while, but I knew that my answer was already yes. And Brooke seemed to know that too, so I just didn't say anything and she led us to the entrance of the boat.

"Hi," She said perkily to the guy at the entrance. "Brooke Davis, and Peyton Sawyer." She said with a smirk. The guy found our names and checked them off. He looked us over, up and down, then smiled.

"Nice," He said, making Brooke giggle and me roll my eyes. What did I get myself into...

xXxXxXx

**AN: OK sry if that was a little short, the others will be longer! And BTW, Amour means Love in french. Up Next:**

**Jake's POV**

**Please tell me what you thought in a Review! thanks so much!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews! Thank you to: brucas622, the only sweet catastrophe, and southerncoffeeaddict. I'm so glad you like it!**

**Chapter 2**

Jake's POV

I never thought I'd be going on a love cruise. I mean, I have to admit, I am a _little_ desperate, and I haven't really been dating for the last four years. But that's only because I have bigger problems in my life. Four years ago, my daughter Jenny was born, I was only seventeen. Three years ago is when I got custody of her and two years ago is when Nikki, my ex-girlfriend and Jenny's mother, stopped bothering me about it and finally left. And I guess for the last two years it's really only been me and my daughter. I don't have time for a girlfriend, and even if I did, who would want to date me?

I've had probably more drama in my life than the normal man has in his entire life. But I don't regret a second of it. Because at the end of the day, when it's just me and my beautiful daughter, it was all worth it.

The people in my life have really helped me. I was able to get through high school with a newborn baby, and I got a scholarship to NCU and I just finished my junior year there. I'm twenty-one. It's suppose to be this great age when you can drink (legally), and party all you want, but for me it's all but that.

I met Lucas at NCU and he's become my best friend. The thing is, ever since I met him he's been trying to set me up with people. And it's always turned into a disaster. Some girls were really nice and all, but they couldn't stand being put second in my life. Like if I had to cancel on a date because Jenny was sick or something, they would freak out. Even when the girls were really cool about Jenny, they never stuck. When I find someone that's worth compromising my time with Jenny to go out with, then I'd definitely date her (if she wanted me). But I have yet to meet that person.

Anyways, after three years of Lucas setting me up, he finally realized that that wasn't working and he got the bright idea to hand me over to the 'professionals'. Without my knowledge, he signed me up at Which is a little disappointing, I mean it could have been or something like that, but sounded so… high school. But as it turned out, they chose me, among a hundred others, to join them on their annual cruise, so that everyone can meet everyone and hook up. Lucas insisted that I go, and alright it would be nice to have a vacation, and since I was allowed a plus-one I figured it wouldn't be so bad. I could bring Lucas and Jenny (I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I brought her) and we could just forget that the whole thing was to set me up.

"Hey, man," Lucas said when I met him at the dock. I had my guitar in one hand, suitcase in the other, and Jenny walking by my side.

"Hey, Luke," I said noticing the gigantic white boat behind him. "Is that it?" I asked. Luke turned around and then back to face me.

"Yup," He answered. "You ready?"

"Um…" I hesitated. I know I had already agreed to it, and now Luke would not let me say no. "Yeah."

We got to the entrance, and there was a guy about my age there, checking off people's names on a list.

"Hi, Jake Jegelski and Lucas Scott," I said as he crossed off out names. We started to go inside but the guy stopped us.

"Hey, man, it says plus-one, not two," He said pointing to Jenny.

"Oh yeah, I know, but this is my daughter-" I started saying.

"Yeah, I don't care," God, I hated this guy already. "You want to take this up with the manager?"

"Yeah, I do." I said. He pointed us to this room nearby. I knocked on it and then entered, finding a middle-aged woman there, who I could only assume was the manager.

Long story short, the woman ended up finding it amazing that I had a four year old daughter and decided that she would let me stay on the cruise with Lucas and Jenny, as long as I spoke at the assembly that after-noon. I have to explain how I'm a single-father and haven't dated in forever and that I signed up on because I knew that they could find the perfect person for me. I know, it's pretty pathetic right? But I don't really care, as long as Luke and Jenny get to stay with me.

So, anyways, that's how I ended up here, in a small cabin in the huge boat talking to Jenny. Lucas had gone out to look around.

"Look, Jenny, I'm sorry about all this. But it's going to be fun. We're going to… uh, make a lot of friends." I said. Jenny was my world, my everything. I hated to have to drag her into all this, I just wanted to make it fun for her. We never really got to go on trips much like her friends did, and I know that she can feel left out, mostly because she doesn't have a mom.

"I know," Jenny said in that soft, sweet, tiny voice of hers. She smiled, "I love you, Daddy," She said. I picked her up in my arms and hugged her.

"I love you, too, angel,"

xXxXxXx

General POV

"Welcome everyone aboard the 'Amour'!" The manager said. Everyone, probably around two hundred people, was outside grouped in front of a small stage, where the manager, and a couple of teenagers were, including Jake. Peyton and Brooke were near the front but weren't paying much attention to what she was saying. They, well at least Brooke, was looking around the crowd for hot guys.

"Hm…" She said looking around, commenting to herself, "Too short… oh, too skinny… hm, what about that one? Oh no, never mind, his pants are way too tight-"

"Brooke!" Peyton interrupted, "There will be plenty of time for that later, just direct your attention to the stage right now, this could be important." She said.

"Fine," Brooke whined looking up at the stage.

"Hey, what about that guy?" Peyton asked. She had been eyeing this one cutie on the stage for a while. He seemed kind of uncomfortable up there on stage and Peyton wondered what he was doing there.

"Well, well, well, P. Sawyer, nice choice!" Brooke said, "I guess you're into the whole daddy thing-" Peyton looked at her weirdly then back up at the guy. She had been so busy looking at him, that she didn't even notice the infant at his side holding his hand.

"Oh my gosh! What do you think that's about?" Peyton asked.

"I guess we're about to find out," Brooke said as the guy went up to the mic and started talking.

"Hi," Jake said nervously. There must be two hundred people there, that he was about to announce to just how desperate he was. "Uh, my name is Jake Jegelski, and this is my daughter, Jenny," He said and Jenny gave a wave. She had a bright, confident smile, and seemed completely at ease. Something she definitely didn't get from her father.

"She's four years old," Jake continued, "And ever since she's was born when I was seventeen, it's been just the two of us. So, I signed up at because I figured they'd help me find someone good for me, because I was having a little trouble. What with, taking care of Jenny and school and all I haven't really been able to date. So I'm hoping that here I'll find someone…" Jake paused. "I guess just someone who can accept that it's a pretty big commitment to date me, because if you become a part of my life than you become a part in Jenny's too. So… yeah, that's it I guess." Jake said and then went to the back of the stage for one of the others to go up and tell their story.

xXxXxXx

Peyton's POV

Brooke and I pretty much ignored the rest of the assembly. We were too busy talking about Jake.

"Wow, that was so adorable!" Brooke said. "Peyton, you need to get with him now!" She squealed.

"Brooke, he's twenty-one," I pointed out. There was no way that a twenty-one year old would be interested in a seventeen year old. I have to admit, he was hot and he seemed like a pretty cool guy, but it would never happen.

"Well, so are we!" Brooke said.

"What?"

"Look, Peyton, who cares about our age? It's just a number right? So why not… change it?" Brooke said, innocently.

"Brooke, you want to lie about our age?" I asked, what on earth was she thinking?

"High school guys are so last season, plus they're way too immature." She said, and I couldn't argue with that. "College guys are so much better, and they'll be more interested in college girls! So, we're twenty-one and go to Duke, if anyone asks, ok?" Brooke pleaded.

I thought about this. It's not like it really mattered. If I found a guy that I liked and that liked me, what did age matter, right? It was harmless. "Fine," I said.

"Good, now let's go say hi," Brooke said and before I could protest she pulled me through the crowd over to the side of the stage where Jake was getting down.

"Hi! Jake, was it?" Brooke said as soon as Jake got down. She didn't wait for him to answer. "And Jenny! Hi!" She said crouching down to play with Jenny.

Jake looked from Jenny to Brooke to me. I figured now would be the right time to say something.

"She's beautiful," I said. And she was. She had curly hair, and her father's eyebrows. She was just adorable.

"Thanks," Jake said, and it actually sounded sincere. I could tell that this guy was definitely different from the guys I'm used to. "I'm Jake," He said, extending his hand for me to shake.

"Peyton," I answered shaking his hand, and flashing a smile. "Nice speech," I added.

"Yeah… they kind of… made me do that so I could get two guests on here instead of just one," Jake said.

"Oh, really? Who else did you bring?" Brooke asked. And I could so tell what was on her mind. She was hoping that he had brought a hot friend of his.

"My friend, Lucas, actually he's coming here right now," Jake said nodding to a tall, blonde, good-looking guy walking towards them. "Hey, man," Jake said to him.

"Hey, thanks for giving me credit in your little speech," Lucas kidded. He seemed nice, and I noticed his glance pause a little longer on Brooke, who was eyeing him greedily. Knowing Brooke, he would be under her spell by dinner.

"I only said what they told me to say," Jake said, getting my attention. Was his whole cute speech a lie? Maybe he was like the guys back home…

"You mean what you said wasn't the truth?" I asked, disappointed and Brooke tore her gaze away from Lucas to look at Jake.

"No, it was all true except that I wasn't the one who signed myself up at Lucas here signed me up without me knowing. So… here we are." Jake said. Phew, ok I could go back to liking him now. I don't know what was getting over me. Normaly I didn't even care what guys thought of me. I think most of my relationship with Nathan, I didn't even like him, and now I'm having such a school-girl crush on this guy. Weird.

"Hun, that's funny, 'cause Brooke here did the same to me!" Peyton said, playfully hitting Brooke.

"I was only trying to help," Brooke defended herself. Which was true, she was my bestest friend in the whole world and she always had my best interest in mind.

"As was I," Lucas said turning to Brooke, who was flashing her dimples at him. I could tell he was already intrigued by her. "I'm Lucas," He said.

"Brooke," She said. "Where'd you guys go to school?"

"We just finished our junior year at North Carolina University." Lucas said. It seemed like Lucas and Brooke were in their own world so I sneaked a glance over at Jake. The sight practically made my heart melt. He was crouched down and playing Patty-Cake with his daughter. He was smiling and laughing crazily, just having a blast with his kid. It reminded me of times when I was little with my dad. I wasn't much older than her when my mom died, and most of my childhood memories are just of me and my dad.

"Yeah, we just finished our junior year at Duke, actually," Brooke said, completely convincingly. Probably because she had said lies like these many times in her life, and was pretty much a pro at it by now.

"Really?" Lucas was saying, "I would have figured you guys were still in high school." I had to bite my tongue to stop me from laughing. But Brooke looked completely calm, she just smiled and looked him straight in the eye.

"Yeah, we get that a lot," She said casualy. I tried so smile and nod along, but I had this weird feeling. Even though this was a completely innocent lie, it still bothered me. But I just brushed it off, it's nothing to worry about. I'm here on a huge boat, with my best friend and a hot, nice, twenty-one year old guy who has a daughter. This was going to be an interesting three weeks.

xXxXxXx

**AN: I would love some feedback! I hope you guys liked it, and will review! Thanks so much for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews to: OTH.daddy'sgurl.06, Emma Smith, and the only sweet catastrophe. You're reviews make me so happy, I really love to receive them. And yeah, this story is already all written so I'm sorry for the lack of Naley. There is a little of them but only in the very end, I'm sorry about that. I hope you still like it!**

**Chapter 3**

Peyton's POV

OK, so I've only been on this cruise for two days, and I have to admit, it's really not that bad. Of course, we got yesterday and today just to relax and all, but then tomorrow is when the whole matching starts. They have a whole schedual. The morning speed dating, the afternoon 'swap-guys-with-the-girl-on-your-right', and the evening blind date. That's five days a week, and you meet three guys a day, so at the end of the three weeks here, I'll have 'dated' forty-five guys. That's a really weird way to think about it.

Anyway, there are about a hundred guys on this boat, so the chances that I'll ever get paired up with Jake are less than fifty percent. And that thought makes me sad. Because, although I've only been here for two days, I can safely say that he's the only cool guy I've met here. Plus he's a total fox...

I've decided to hang out with him first as friends, or just aquaintences, because who knows with guys? I just want to be sure that I really want him before I make a move... if I make a move. I mean, for all I know, he could be totaly uninterested in me. I bet he knows that I'm seventeen, I know I shouldn't have lied. I bet he can tell, like he gets a high-school vibe or something... I bet he doesn't like me always hanging around him. Does he hate me? Wow, I have way too much free time on my hands, if I think about this any longer I'm going to drive myself crazy!

xXxXxXx

Jake's POV

OK, she's driving me crazy! But in a good way... I don't know, maybe I should back off. I haven't really felt like this since Nikki, and that's not exactly a good sign... Not that Peyton's like Nikki or anything. But I mean, who am I kidding? It's not like she'd be interested in ME? I mean, I'm a single-father, I haven't dated since... well, a while... I'm not exactly a catch. She's the kind of girl that probably has guys surrounding her on campus and all that. And I'm the kind of guy that lays-low, writing songs and all. But even though she's probably really popular, she has this down-to-earth quality, it's like she doesn't even know just how beautiful she is...

"Dad... Dad!... DAD!" I heard Jenny saying from behind me. I turned around, she looked annoyed.

"Yes, honey, what is is?" I asked her. I hoped she hadn't been calling me forever, but from the look on her face, it looked like it. Once I get in a different world, it's pretty hard to bring me back to reality.

"Can we go swimming?" She asked. She was already in her polka-dot pink one-piece and I remembered that I had promised to go swimming with her. I felt bad that I wouldn't see her as much during the week, what with the tight schedual these people kept you on. Fortunitaly, there were a couple other young, single parents on this trip, and there was a day care and everything.

"Oh, right, of course, just let me get changed." I said and then I went to change into my swim trunks, but not before noticing Jenny's annoyed expression change into and excited one. Yes! Extra cool points for the Dad!

xXxXxXx

Peyton's POV

God this place is fancy! Brooke and I are getting tan by the outdoor pool, and some guy that works there comes up and askes if we want Evian water sprayed on our bodies! It kind of weirded me out, but Brooke gladly accepted.

"Peyton, we're on this cruise for _free_. You need to take everything you can get out of it." Brooke said. "And I'm not just talking about the guys."

"I know, it just feels so.. weird..." I tried to explain, but decided to change the subject, "So you and Lucas seem to be getting along well. There are definitaly sparks there." I kind of only brought up Lucas so that we could get to the subject of Jake, but I did want to here what was going on with her and his friend, Lucas. They seemed really interested in each other since the second they met.

"I can't argue with that..." Brooke said, with a smirk, "He's gorgeous!" She said and we both giggled a little, and I had to agree with her. "Plus, I mean, he's _mature_, you know, he seems so sweet and intellegent. He's really like no other guy I've ever met." I had to gush to that. Brooke had this twinkle in her eye that is not there very often. And when we were normaly talking about guys the words 'pig' and 'shallow' normaly came up, but 'sweet' not so much, and even less 'intellegent'. This was something new.

"Well, has anything happened between you two?" I asked. OK, so it had only been two days, but with Brooke you never knew.

"No, not yet. But we can't keep talking about him, because here he comes," Brooke said fast. And I turned my head and sure enough, there was Lucas, shirtless, but not in his bathing suit. I looked over at Brooke and she was looking him over with a look in her eye that I recognised as her 'I want you' look.

"Hey," He said when he reached us. I totaly noticed him checking Brooke out in her bikini, and I bet she did too, but she didn't mind. If anything, she was probalby happy that he did it. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Brooke said with her usual cheery voice, "We were just talking about the obveous attraction between Peyton here and your friend, Jake," she said, and I glared at her. She's always doing things like that. But before I could say that that was absolutely _not_ true, we saw Jake himself coming towards the pool with his daughter. He hadn't noticed us though, he was too wrapped up in Jenny, laughing with her and everything. That sight was enough to make your heart melt.

"See?" Brooke said to Lucas, gesturing to Peyton, "She's totaly crushing." She said, and got my attention.

"Brooke! I am not!" I lied playfuly hitting her. Lucas laughed at us and then went to go say hi to his friend.

xXxXxXx

Jake's POV

"OK, Jenny, why don't you stay here with Luke and I'll go get us drinks." I said to Jenny and she nodded. "Luke you want anything?" I asked turning to my best friend, who shook his head, so I headed to the bar.

"Hi, uh, one Apply Juice, and one Coke, please." I asked and the bartender gave me the drinks without saying anything.

"Uh..." I said, "What do I owe you?"

"Nothing, it's free," The guys said amazing me. They give you the trip for free, and everything on it for free, how do these guys make money? This was really weird. I'm a single-father, at college on a scholarship, I'm not used to luxery and being treated so well. This is too weird. It'll probalby be hard to tear Jenny away from this place at the end of three weeks. And I'm starting to think the same for me.

All of a sudden I notice a head of blonde curls I recognized. Walking closer to get a better look, I saw that it was infact Peyton... in a bikini. I almost spit out my soda, she looked so hot. But I contained myself, thankfuly. Scared that I would embarass myself if I went any closer, I went back to where Lucas and Jenny were waiting.

But I noticed them already in the pool. I guess Jenny just couldn't wait, and Lucas was like him, he couldn't say no to her. I realized that a certain brunette was in the water swimming around with them. That's probably Brooke, the only thing Lucas could talk about for the last two days.

I decided that I should probably go see Peyton after all. You know, because I didn't want her to be lonely...


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So just so you know I'm leaving for three weeks in two days so hopefully I'll find a computer there to update on, but otherwise, I'll update when I get back! So sorry for the inconvenience! Thanks for reviewing to: brucas622, OTH.daddy'sgurl.06, jeytonlover, and the only sweet catastrophe. **

**Chapter 4**

Peyton's POV

"This seat taken?" Jake asked when he walked over to me. I have to admit I noticed him the second he arrived at the pool, but I acted like I didn't even notice he was coming over until he was actually there, standing in front of me. From experience of having boys always just stare at my chest while I talked to them, and the fact that I hated that, I decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to just stare at his very well-toned body. It didn't mean I couldn't sneak a peak once in a while. Because man, that boy had a _nice_ body. When did he ever find the time to work out? I wondered... But then I realized that I should probably answer the question.

"Oh, well yeah, but the person who's chair it is is busy frolicking in a pool with your daughter and friend." I said, figuring after I said it that a simple 'no' could have been better. I gestured for him to sit down.

"Thanks," He said as he sat down.

We sat in silence for a minute, but some how it wasn't too awkward. It was like we were getting to know each other, without talking. Like we were just comfortable just sitting there in silence.

"So, mind if I ask you a question?" I asked breaking the silence. Hey, one of us had to.

"No, sure. Shoot," He said looking at me.

"What's the deal with... Jenny's mother..." I said hesitantly. I didn't want to pry or for him to get mad or anything, but I was just curious.

Jake sighed and waited a while before answering, "She's uh..."

"It's Okay, you don't have to tell me. I probably shouldn't have said anything," I said fast, feeling a little foolish. It was his business. Hey, we had only known each other for like two days, why would he tell me something like that.

"Well, it's just, I don't really like talking about it. She's... well, she's out of the picture now, so..." Jake said looking uncomfortable. I could have killed myself right there. Me and my big mouth.

"Sorry," I said, although I could tell that he wasn't mad or anything. He didn't seem like the type that really got mad.

"So, what's your major?" Jake asked, changing the subject and I felt my stomach drop. What did he just say? Oh, no, this is when I needed Brooke here. He thinks I'm in college, he thinks I have major!

"Theater," I said off the top of my head and then once more I felt like I could have killed myself. What was I saying? I knew nothing about Theater, that was totally and completely random. Oh, well, I'll have to stick with that lie now.

"Oh, cool." Jake said casually. All of a sudden it struck me: This was so stupid. Why did I need to pretend I was in college? I hate liars, and now I'm one of them. And I'm not even lying about something important. I mean, Jake didn't seem like he would care if I told him I was seventeen. And if he did care about that sort of thing, than maybe I didn't want to be with him in the first place...

"Look, Jake, I need to tell you some-" I started to say, but was interrupted.

"Hey! Goldilocks and Daddy-Dearest, are you guys coming in or what?" Brooke yelled from the pool. Next to her was Lucas, who had Jenny on his shoulders.

Jake and I looked at each other. "Maybe we should..." Jake said and I nodded.

"I'll race you," I said getting up and running to the pool and diving in, followed closely by Jake who flipped into the pool. Wow, I couldn't help but think how incredibly hot that was... OK, I'll just have to tell him I'm seventeen some other time...

xXxXxXx

Jake's POV

"Dude, what's up with you and Brooke?" I asked Lucas when we got back to the cabins. Jenny was in the day-care center because she had already made friends and wanted to play with them there. That didn't bother me, because there were like ten guys supervising. Lucas and I were both towel-drying our hair.

"What'd you mean?" Lucas asked averting his eyes. Gosh, it was so obvious. I only wished I wasn't like that with Peyton.

"Don't play dumb, man, you know what I mean." I said as I sat down on my bed. Lucas sighed and became very interested in the pattern of the bed sheets.

"I don't know, man." He said, "I mean, she's not like any girl I've ever met before. I mean, she's sexy, and funny, but she's also smart and I can talk to her. I mean, actually really talk to her about stuff that matters. I feel like there should be a catch or something, but there isn't. She's like... perfect, dude." Lucas said, and I thought, wow, he just described how I feel about Peyton.

"Yeah, yeah, I get what you mean," I said staring off to space and then I'm in total Peyton-land. I hope that she didn't take it personally or anything that I didn't want to talk about Nikki. I mean, Lucas and my parents are the only people who know the whole Nikki story and although I feel completely comfortable talking to Peyton about anything, I felt like it was a little too soon to talk about this with her.

I don't mean to have like this double-life or anything, but it's just I've only known Peyton a couple days and she might be weirded out if I tell her the Nikki story. It's probably not at all what she would expect.

When I get back to reality, I notice that Lucas in on the phone. I didn't even notice that there was a phone in here before. But there is, and Lucas is on it.

"Who're you talking to?" I ask. He mouths 'Brooke' and I think, of course, who else would he be on the phone with? Then something came to me, Brooke is probably staying in the same cabin as Peyton. OK, so I just saw Peyton a minute ago, but I felt like talking to her again.

"Hey, Luke?" I asked, and he looked at me, annoyed that I had interrupted his conversation with Brooke.

"Hold on one second," He said into the phone and then looked up at me, "Yeah?"

"When you're done can you pass me the phone? I want to talk to Peyton," I said, trying to sound casual about it so he wouldn't make fun of me or something. He smiled knowingly and said that he would pass me the phone when he was done, then went back to talking to Brooke.

xXxXxXx

A couple minutes later, Lucas handed me the phone. Ah, finally. "Hello?" I said into it.

"Hey, Jake, what's up?" I heard Peyton's voice say on the other end.

"Nothing, you?" I asked.

"Nothing," She said and then there was one of those awkward silences. I hate those. "So... you wanted to talk to me?" She said and I immediately felt very very stupid.

"Oh, I just wanted to hear your voice," Wait, did I just say that? Oh, God... I wanted to just hang up the phone and just knock myself on the head with it to death. "I mean," I said trying to recover, "I just wanted to, uh... see how you were doing." I said fumbling with my words as Lucas was sitting across from me laughing at me. I threw a pillow at him.

Peyton laughed a little, and I couldn't tell if she was laughing at me or if it was just friendly laughter. Either way I felt like crawling into a cave and dying there, I was so embarrassed. But oh well, what's said is said, might as well make the best of it, I thought.

"So, okay, I should probably go and bang my head against a wall or something," I joked. This time I recognized her laughter as actually laughing at my joke. She thought I was funny! Yes! OK, so it's not a big deal, but whatever, at the moment it felt great. "See you tomorrow, Peyton." I said.

"Bye Jake," She said in a tone that was like I could just see her smiling on the other end. It was nice. And then we hung up.

I hung up the phone and looked up at Lucas, who was still laughing at me. He looked like he was dying to make fun of me.

"Dude, don't say a word," I said and I fell backwards on my bed. This dating thing was tougher than I remembered, and Peyton and I weren't even dating. Yet.

xXxXxXx

_AN: OK, sorry if it was kinda short. anyway I hope you liked it. Next up is the first day of the dating games! Please Review and tell me what you thought! thanks!_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey guys! So sorry for the super long wait. As I said, I was away for three weeks and didn't have time to update there. Thanks so much for sticking with me! Thanks to: the only sweet catastrophe, jeyton4ever, i never promised, and OTH.Daddy'sgurl.06 for all the great reviews!**

**Chapter 5**

Peyton's POV

Day one of the dating catastrophes. I'm thrilled. No, seriously, I don't really know what to expect. This whole trip has been pretty cool so far, but who knows. From now on it might just be speed dating and dumb set-up games. Still, I don't regret agreeing to go on this cruise. Then I wouldn't have met Jake.

I know it sounds dumb, but after being with Nathan, I really felt like I would never find someone that would really understand me. Jake is nothing like me, yet maybe that's why he kind of compliments me. He's sort of simple and sensitive and I'm pretty much the opposite of that. But that's why we're good together. Or at least that's why we would be good together. What am I even saying? Who says he feels the same.

Anyway, I'm really jealous because Brooke and Lucas are both 'plus-ones' so they don't have to do all the dating games, they just get to lounge around all day. My bet is at the end of the day they'll be all over each other. Although, they haven't gotten together yet, it's pretty obvious that they will.

I woke up on Monday morning at seven A.M. These people are crazy. Worse: They woke us up from these fog horns, I guess adding to the whole boat-concept. But anyway, I got dressed and forced Brooke to come with me to the assembly. When we got there they checked off our names and handed us a program.

"Welcome, singles," The manager said from the stage. _Singles?_ "Today is your first day of the LustFactor pairings. This week is dedicated to finding the right person for you. There are going to be many activities, in order for you to find the person you are most compatible with. Remember, keep an open mind, anyone you meet here, could be 'The One'. First we ask the plus-ones to please leave us and enjoy a nice day aboard the 'Amour'."

I said good-bye to Brooke and she gave me some encouraging words. I told her I hated her and that she owed me, and then she skipped off. Probably to go find Lucas. I sighed and then brought my attention back to the manager.

"Alright, we're going to separate into two groups. Under twenties, please go to my right and over twenties, please go to my left." Uh,oh. "Otherwise, meaning, everyone with a pink program go to my right and everyone with a blue program go to my left." Damn it, my program is pink. But if I want to be with Jake, I have to have a blue one. I knew my lie would come back to haunt me.

I panicked for a while, but then easily found someone who was willing to switch programs with me. I guess they didn't get the whole age concept, they just liked the color pink or something. So I walked over to the left side with my blue program trying to act normal. Since there were only about fifty people in each group, it wasn't long before I found Jake.

And a couple seconds later, he found me too. He smiled, that cute sideways smile, and then walked over. "I was hoping I'd find you," He said and I couldn't contain my smile.

"Yeah, it's good to have a familiar face in the middle of all these strangers," I said. Even though that wasn't at all what Jake was. Just a familiar face. Even if I knew all these people, I would still only be interested in Jake. But I didn't say that.

"What'd you think they're going to make us do?" Jake asked but before I could answer, the manager started talking again.

"Alright, this is how it's going to work," For some reason I was getting really nervous, "Two of my staff are going to come around and pair you up with someone. You will talk to them for ten minutes and at the end of those ten minutes this bell will ring," She rang a bell to show us, "And you will be again paired with someone else. At the end of the hour, you will have met six different people. You will then make a list of those six people. Number one being the one whose company you enjoyed most, and number six being the one whose company you enjoyed the least. Everyone understand?" She didn't wait for an answer, "OK, here we go." She rang the bell and four guys stepped off the stage, two to the right and two to the left. They went up to everyone and paired them off.

I glanced at Jake. "I can't believe I'm doing this," I said embarrassed.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Jake said nodding. Then one of the guys came up to me and then looked at Jake. For a second I was hopeful that he would pair me up with him, but no such luck. He brought me all the way to the end and paired me with some guy that was probably around twenty-five. He wasn't bad looking, no one on this cruise was, but I didn't really care for him. I mean, what were we suppose to talk about for ten minutes, we didn't even know each other!

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," He said. He looked me up and down, but he didn't seem very enthusiastic, and that didn't make me feel good about myself. Obviously he wasn't really into this whole thing.

"So..." I said trying to think of something to say, "Do you like music?" That was one thing I knew a lot about. Music. But what kind of a question is that? Everyone likes music.

He shrugged. OK, if he had an ounce less of energy in him he would probably be dead. I don't even know how he was standing up. "Okay..." I said. I didn't bother talking to him for the next minute or so. I figured if he wasn't going to make any effort, than neither would I. I knew right away that he would be at the bottom of my list.

I was looking at the ground. Carefully examining it, actually. Hoping and wishing that any second now, that bell would ring. But it didn't... Then I noticed Jake and some girl he was paired with coming towards us. The girl was tall, and I guess kind of pretty. OK, so she was gorgeous. And OK, I was jealous. I wondered if they were coming over here just because Jake wanted me to be jealous. But then I figured that that wasn't really something Jake would do.

"Hey, guys, this is Sarah," Jake said. He looked at my guy and held out his hand, "I'm Jake," he said.

The guy shook his hand but didn't say anything. Jake looked at him weirdly then at me. I figured it was worth a shot, so I gave him a 'help me' look and he nodded. My guy looked Sarah over and looked a little more pleased with her than he was with me. I didn't really care though.

"So, guys," Jake said, "I have an idea. How about we switch. You know, just for fun." And before they could answer I added,

"Yeah, that would be fun. See ya!" I said and I ran out of there with Jake.

"So, do you want to bail on this whole game thing? It's kind of dumb," Jake said. I thought I could just jump up and hug him tightly I was so happy, but I kept my cool and nodded. We just walked out of there. It was that easy.

xXxXxXx

Jake's POV

I can't believe I just did that. But I did. And it felt great. Everything with me used to be about taking precautions and thinking about things a million times before I did them. But I did it, a spur of the moment thing. And it actually worked. The guy had paired me up with a nice enough girl, and I really felt sorry for her, but not as much as I did for Peyton who was over there suffering from some guy. And for some guy I was kind of happy that she wasn't having a good time with that guy. Is that mean? I don't know, but before I knew it I was inviting her to ditch the whole thing, and she accepted. I felt like I was flying.

OK, so I knew it wasn't a date or anything, but I kind of pretended it was. Although all we did was go to my cabin and hang out. I thought about calling Luke to see what him and Brooke were up to so that we could maybe all hang out but then I decided that I would really rather just hang out with Peyton alone.

"Thanks for saving me back there. I swear that guy was making me depressed," Peyton said as she sat down on my bed next to me. It should have felt awkward, both of us sitting on the same bed, in a room, alone. But it didn't.

"Yeah, it was no problem. I'd rather hang out with you than any of those girls anyway," I said, surprising myself. It's like I was all new that day. I was the guy that didn't think before speaking. But I just spoke honestly and it seemed to be working out for me.

She looked at me and seemed surprised that I would have said that. Oh, no. Maybe it sounded like a line...? Maybe she thinks I'm just one of those stupid guys that uses stupid lines from movies to get a girl.

But then she kissed me. It was short. Too short. I couldn't even process what was going on until it was over and then I noticed that I had barely moved. She just took me by surprise and I felt really stupid for not reacting faster. And then my old self came back and although a voice inside my head was yelling 'Kiss Her! Kiss Her!' I became too shy and just didn't say anything.

"So... maybe we should see what Luke and Brooke are up to. See if they want to hang out?" Peyton said. I was still in shock and in the middle of a conversation with my two selves going on in my head so I only heard about half of what she said, but I nodded anyway.

"Okay, I'll call Brooke," Peyton said and she got up and went outside to make her call. That's when I got back to my senses. A little late, but oh well. _She kissed me_!

xXxXxXx

**AN: I hope you liked it! sorry for it being kind of short. But if I get a lot of good reviews I'll update really soon! Well, I'll probably update really soon anyways, now that I'm back, but I would really appreciate reviews anyways! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks for the great reviews to: jeyton4ever, the only sweet catastrophe (I was blown away by your review! It made me so happy that you liked the story enough to write such a long review about it, thanks SO much!), and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06.**

**Chapter 6**

Peyton's POV

"And then I kissed him!" I said embarrassed, to Brooke. I had called Brooke and she was infact hanging out with Lucas, but they agreed to hang out with us. We were outside, in the area that wasn't being used for the dating, just for the plus-ones, having fun and hanging out. I tried to act normal around Jake, but it was too weird. We waiting for Brooke and Lucas to meet us in complete silence. Which wasn't too bad, 'cause I just pretended to look at the view the whole time. The second Brooke and Lucas came, I not-so-discretely pulled Brooke aside. I needed to talk to her. Fast.

"What? P. Sawyer, you made a move on Jake!" Brooke yelled a little too loudly, and I started blushing and glanced over to the guys who, thankfully, looked like they hadn't heard a thing.

"It was kind of an impulse I had. He was being so sweet, and definitely hinted that he had SOME sort of feelings for me, so I kissed him," I said.

"Oh, my gosh! How was it?" Brooke asked, with that glow in her eyes. She was obviously ten times more excited about this than I was. That was kind of sad.

"It was..." I searched for the right word, "...weird." She looked at me blankly, so I continued, "I mean, I kissed him, but it was just a peck. It was kind of just to see what his reaction would be, you know?"

"And?" Brooke asked excitedly.

"And... nothing. That was it. I just kissed him, and he literally didn't do ANYTHING. I mean, he didn't say anything, he didn't move, nothing. So I just got up and called you and... here I am." I said.

"Well, Pey, look I'm almost positive that Jake likes you. But I'm also positive that he's a very shy person. He was probably just surprised." Brooke said reassuringly. And it's not like she was just trying to make me feel better, the things she was saying were true. Jake was a pretty shy guy. But then again, he had said that he liked me. Well, not exactly that. But he said that he would rather spend time with me than those other girls here. Doesn't that mean something? Was I reading too much into that? Maybe he just said it to be nice...

"Yeah. Maybe. Anyway, thanks, Brooke, I really needed to talk about it with someone." I said. "So, spill, what's going on with you and Lucas?" I raised my eyebrows and Brooke, who rarely blushed, turned a little red.

"Well..." Brooke said, looking away.

"Come on! Tell me," I nagged, "Are you guys together? Fooling around? Just friends? Please tell me it's one of the two first ones," I said.

"Well, this morning, he came over to me and asked if I wanted to hang out today. So of course I said yes and then we went my the pool and hung out. And for the longest time, I totally thought that he was going to make a move on me, because he was being so sweet and such a gentleman. And OK, I know he's different than high-school guys and all, but my first instinct was to assume that he was just acting that way to get into my pants. But then I realized that that's just the way he is, that's just part of his personality. So then I thought that he probably doesn't like me and he's just being nice. But you know me, so I just thought 'What the hell?' And I went for it." Brooke said giddily, making me laugh.

"You kissed him?" I asked with a smile on my face. She smiled goofily and nodded. "And? What happened? Did he kiss back?" She did that goofy nod once again. OK, so I felt so happy for my best friend. Really, I did. But I was a little jealous. Lucas seemed like a shy enough guy, yet when Brooke kissed him, he responded. What was wrong with Jake? Or was there something wrong with me?

xXxXxXx

Jake's POV

I had just finished explaining what had happened between me and Peyton to Lucas. He was silent for a while and then turned to me with a serious expression on his face. I waited for him to talk first.

"Jake, do you like this girl?" He asked seriously. I didn't need to think about it.

"Yes," I answered. Unexpectedly, Lucas smacked me over the head.

"Than you're an idiot for not kissing her back!" He said while I rubbed the spot on my head that I was sure going to grow a bump soon.

"Ow," I whined. He didn't look sorry.

"Jake, did you see how fast Peyton ran away from you to Brooke when we met you guys?" I nodded, looking at the ground. Lucas continued, "Do you know what Peyton is saying to Brooke right now?" He asked. I looked up at him. How the hell did he know what they were talking about? "She's telling her the whole story. How she likes you. How she took a shot. And how you _rejected_ her. Do you really want those thoughts to be in the head of the girl you like?" Lucas asked.

"No," I admitted. "It's just. It's been a while since I've liked anyone. I don't remember how to go about things. I don't know what to do now, it's just going to be all awkward all the time." I said.

"Not if you tell her how you feel," Lucas said as if it was so simple. Trust me, it's not so simple. If I had a dime for all the times I _almost_ told Peyton how I felt about her, I would be a rich man.

"I don't know... So what's up with you and Brooke? You two together?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Um," Lucas said thinking, "Well, we made out a little. And I don't really know where to go from here, you know? I mean, she's... she's incredible, but I don't know if she's looking for a boyfriend or just someone to spend the time with, you know?" He said. I nodded. We didn't say another word. We just looked up to where Brooke and Peyton were talking, laughing. Both of us yearning to be with them.

xXxXxXx

General POV

Jake had decided what he wanted to do about Peyton. And Peyton had decided what she wanted to tell Jake. They were both just waiting for the right moment. They four of them hung out together a little longer. Brooke and Lucas couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other for too long, so they excused themselves, leaving Jake and Peyton in an uncomfortable silence once again.

"I have to tell you something," Jake and Peyton both said at the same time. And after a couple rounds of 'you go, no you go', Jake decided to tell Peyton what he had to tell her first.

"OK, so remember when you asked me about Jenny's biological mother?" Jake asked, gathering all the courage he had in him to tell her this. Peyton nodded. "Well, if you still want to hear the story, I'd love to tell it to you."

"OK," Peyton said, "I'd like that."

"Alright. Well, I met Nikki my sophomore year in high school. She was a couple years older, and pretty much the opposite of me. She was out-going and daring and I was... well, pretty much the same way I am right now, except much less mature. Anyways, we hit it off pretty well and I even fell in love with her, and she fell in love with me." Jake said, feeling a little uneasy talking about Nikki, but he felt like it was the right thing to do.

Peyton felt a little weird about hearing him talk about how much he loved another girl, but she could tell that this story ended badly. Looking at Jake's expression, she felt so much sympathy towards him.

"I mean," Jake continued, "I was so shocked when Nikki came to me and told me she was pregnant. We had always used protection, and although I knew that wouldn't be 100 accurate, getting a girl pregnant by accident was something I never thought would happen to me. We talked about not having the baby, but Nikki decided that she wanted to have it. Then, are feelings for each other had changed a little, of course the situation made us think a lot about our futures and we were so young that we were dealing with so many issues at once and it was hard to control. Still, I was there for her."

Peyton was nodding along. This was such a moving story. You heard about it all the time, but you never think about it happening to you or someone you know.

Jake continued, "But after the baby was born, she left. I mean, seriously, just like that, she was out of my life. And I couldn't beat myself up over it, because I had a daughter, Jenny, now and I needed to care for her. And all of a sudden, my life turned inside-out and everything changed. Everything revolved around Jenny. My parents helped out and I got a job and tried my best to stay a good student in school and have somewhat of a life. But then, my junior year, Nikki came back. She wanted Jenny back."

"Oh, God," Peyton couldn't help herself from saying. If she ever met this Nikki girl, she would have to slap her.

"Yeah, so we immediately go into this whole custody battle, included both of us running away, me spending some time in jail, and long hours in trial and finally the judge granted me full-custody of Jenny." Peyton let out a sigh in relief, even thought she knew that he had custody of her already. "Nikki left right after and I haven't seen her since."

They were silent for a while and Jake felt great. He was glad that he had told Peyton. She was the only person that he had met recently that he trusted with that information.

"Wow, Jake, you are so strong to have gone through all that," Peyton said honestly and admiringly making Jake's stomach turn, "Jenny's really lucky to have you." She said and that just melted his heart. _You can have me too!_ he wanted to yell out.

"Thanks, Peyton." Jake said.

"But," Peyton said, "What made you decide to tell me?"

Jake thought about this for a while. And he discovered that the easiest way to answer this, even though it might take some guts, was just to answer truthfully. "Because, Peyton, in these last couple of days, I've been feeling closer to you. You're the only person I've met since Lucas, and that's different, that I've felt that I can just say anything to. I haven't known you very long and yet I feel like you're one of my closest friends. Or..." He gathered up the courage, "Even maybe... more than that..." He gathered up just a little more courage and with all the mental strength in him, he leaned down and kissed her. She, being not as dumb as him, got with the program pretty fast and kissed him back forcefully.

Peyton's heart was floating around inside her chest and Jake felt like his was going to explode. But neither pulled away for a while, both liking the feeling of their lips locked together. When they finally did pull apart, they took a while to catch their breaths, then Jake spoke.

"What did you want to tell me?" Jake said softly, his mind and heart still racing.

"Oh," Peyton said, wondering if she should still tell him. If she had told him before would it have changed things? Would they have ended up kissing anyway? She decided to just say it anyway, it needed to be said at one point. "Well, Jake... It's not a big deal or anything, but... Well, I'm not exactly 21... Actually, I'm 17, and a junior in High School..."

xXxXxXx

_AN: muahahahhahaha, reply and then you can find out what's next! I hope you liked it! please review!_


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thanks for the reviews to: jeyton4ever, southerncoffeeaddict, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06. You guys are amazing, and I'm so happy that you like this story!**

**Chapter 7**

Peyton's POV

I would've given anything in the world for him to get mad at me. Yell at me. Maybe throw something. Anything. Anything would've been better than the eery, awkward silence that followed and went on forever after those words came out of my mouth. Remind me again why I decided to tell him I was in High School? No, I'm glad I did, really, at least now he knows the truth. It's the fact that I had lied about it in the first place that I'm regreting.

"Jake," I said quietly, not able to look him in the eye, so I was looking down at the ground, "Say something, please."

Jake looked up at me and I forced myself to keep my gaze down, not wanting to see the way he would be looking at me. "But today..." He paused, for what seemed like hours, "How were you in my group?"

I was confused at first, but then it came to me. The dating round one groups. He was in the over-twenty group and I should have been in the under-twenty group. "I," I said feeling a little embarassed, among all the other feelings flowing through me, "I kind of switched programs with someone."

Then. That's when I made the mistake of looking up into his face. He was looking right at me. His gorgeous eyes only reflected hurt, not hate. He looked confused, but not mad.

"Jake, it wasn't suppose to be a big deal-" I tried to say.

"I have to go," He said breaking the gaze and getting up.

"No, Jake, please don't be mad. Let me-"

"I'm not mad, Peyton. Just... disapointed," He said before turning around and leaving. It took every strength in me not to yell after him or run after him. But he obveously didn't want to talk. Maybe some time alone would do some good.

xXxXxXx

"Brooke!" I yelled when I got to our cabin, hoping she would be there. And thankfuly, she was there, sprawled on her bed reading Cosmo. She looked up alarmed, I guess I must yelled louder than I wanted to.

"Peyton, what's up?" She asked worriedly closing her Cosmo and setting it beside her. I went and sat down next to her on her bed.

"Brooke, _please_ don't be mad. OK, I had to do it," I said all in one breathe. I was really wired for some reason.

"Why? What are you talking about? Slow down." She said giving me a semi-hug.

"Brooke, I told Jake." I said, "I told him that we were in high school. I'm so sorry, I just-"

"Peyton, shh, it's OK. I already told Lucas, like yesterday." Brooke said biting her bottom lip looking nervous. Her puppy-dog eyes saying 'please don't be mad'. I just laughed.

"Why didn't you tell me? And how'd Lucas take it?" I asked, wanting to forget about my troubles for a little while and focus on Brooke and Lucas's rapidly growing relationship.

"He thought it was funny. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I told him I just made Lucas swear he wouldn't tell Jake. I didn't want you to feel pressured to tell him, you seemed like you were having a lot of fun," She said.

"Yeah, 'were' being to key word there," I said.

"Tell me what happened," She said sympatheticaly, reminding me how lucky I am to have her as a best friend. I can tell her anything and I know she'll always listen to my many issues.

"He didn't really say much, you know? He just looked so disapointed in me and so hurt, and I really wish that I had never lied in the first place. He left before I could really explain myself," I said. Lucas had just laughed. Jake had done the opposite. For best friends, they sure were different.

"Oh, Peyton, I'm sorry. He probably just needed some time. He'll come around, don't worry," She said soothingly wrapping me up in a best-friend bear hug.

"I hope so," I said into her shoulder.

xXxXxXx

Jake's POV

"Lucas!" I yelled walking in to our cabin. Lucas was in there with Jenny.

"Hey, man, I picked up Jenny from the day-care, I hope you don't mind," Lucas said.

"Nah, thanks man," I said, "Hey Jenny, do you think Daddy and Luke can have a word in private for a second?" I asked.

She nodded and went to a corner of the room where she took out a piece of paper and some pens from the drawer and started drawing.

"What's up?" Lucas asked concerned. I sighed. I really didn't want to be the one to tell him this.

"Luke, you should probably hear this from Brooke but I think I should tell you," I said. And at the sound of Brooke's name he perked up, looking worried.

"Why? What happened?"

"Luc, they're not who they say they are. They're seventeen and still in high school." I said bracing myself for his response. It's harder for guys. You can't just go up and hug them, 'cause that might be a little awkward. I just kind of looked at him apoligeticaly. His expression changed from worry to amusement. That struck me as sort of odd.

"It's about time you found out. Brooke told me yesterday," He said casualy. "God, you had me worried for a second, Jake."

Wait a second. Brooke told him _yesterday_? And he just found out five minutes ago? And why was Lucas so easy-going about all this? They had _lied_.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I yelled. OK, so I didn't mean to yell, but it just came out. Which is kind of weird because I hadn't yelled at Peyton at all. In fact, I'm really not a yelling sort of guy.

"Dude, what the hell are you getting mad at me about? Brooke told me not to tell you so I didn't. It's not like it's a big deal. Chill, man," Lucas said defensively.

"They lied to us!" I said.

"Yeah, about their age. Come on, what difference does it make. Does it really change how you feel about her because she's a few years younger than you thought she was?" Lucas said. Yeah! I wanted to yell. Yeah, it really does make a difference. But I couldn't quite figure out why.

"What kind of an immature teenager lies about being in college? I have a daughter, Luke, more things to think about." I said.

"OK," Lucas said, "I get that. But tell me honestly, is this whole idea that Peyton is to 'immature' for you based on her being seventeen and lying about her age, which by the way a ton of teenagers do, or is it based on your actual opinion of her?" He said.

I opened my mouth to answer that he wasn't getting it and that wasn't fair. But what he had said really made me think. If she had just told me she was seventeen from the start I probably would have labeled her off as too young or immature, and I wouldn't have been able to get to know what a wonderful person she was.

"Look," Lucas said when he realized I wasn't going to answer his question, "just talk to her. I'm sure she really wants to explain it all to you. So, let her," he said. I just stood there for a second, then slowly nodded. Then I was out of there.

xXxXxXx

I was halfway to walking to Peyton's cabin when I decided against it and started walking back to my cabin. But I knew that once I reached the door of my cabin, I would just end up walking right back in the direction of her cabin. This whole thing had happened about fifty times before and I was sick of it. Just do it! I yelled at myself. I sighed, and continued walking to her cabin.

I stood in front of her door for a couple minutes. Should I knock? Should I just go back? Am I making a mistake? Right in the midst of my decision the door in front of me swung open and there stood Peyton, shocked to find me right there.

"Hi," I said not really knowing what to say.

"Hi," She said in a small voice, "Um, can we talk?" _Can we talk?_ That would've been a good thing for me to say. But for some reason that hadn't come to me.

"Yeah, good idea," I said. We walked to the front of the boat, where there were a couple couples scattered around here and there.

"Look," I said, "I overreacted, I know, it's just-"

"No," Peyton interupted, "No, it's my fault. I should have told you sooner. Or, I mean, I shouldn't have lied in the first place but, it's just..." She paused and I waited for her to continue, "I have a good life. Great friends and I really shouldn't complain. But it's just... Everything that comes with high school. The drama, the immaturity, the bad relationships, I just wanted to have a summer away from that. I didn't notice that I was making a mistake by pretending to be older," She said.

"No, I get it," I said, but I'm not sure if she really heard me.

"Age... it's just a number you know," She said grabbing my hands in hers. "Everything else you learned about me is true, I swear. All the conversations, the fun we had, those kisses, they were so real, you have no idea. And I hope that I haven't ruined all of that," She said.

I took my hands from hers and placed them around her waiste. She looked up at me hopefuly. I smiled slightly, looking down at her beautiful face, illuminated by the moonlight. Before I could lean down to kiss her, she beat me to it, rising on her tip-toes and placing her hands on my face and meeting my lips with hers in a sensual kiss. This time I kissed her back quick, trying to make up for not kissing her faster before she had beat me to it. But that was actualy kind of sexy.

I pulled her body closer to mine, just to feel how well we completed each other. The kiss was intensifying with ever second and my head was spinning and my heart racing. I didn't know what I would do when this feeling would be over, but thankfuly neither of us pulled away. It just went on and on and on...


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Thanks for the reviews to: jeyton4ever, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06! I was a little disappointed to only get two reviews, but you two are so wonderful and the reviews made me so happy, that it didn't even matter! Thanks so much!**

**Chapter 8**

General POV

The rest of the week, Jake and Peyton found themselves skipping all the dating games and so on that was planed for them every day. What good would it do to them? They had already found the one they wanted to be with, what was the point of looking any further, right?

Brooke assured Peyton time and time again that it was perfectly fine that they were skipping the whole schedule. She said that as long as Peyton spent as much time as possible in Jake's arms that she was getting her money's worth. Peyton reminded her that this whole cruise was given to them for free.

"Whatever," Brooke said rolling her eyes. "The point is, we're young, on a cruise, and found hot boyfriends. It would just be wrong not to spend every second just making the best of this," She said simply, and Peyton had to agree. It's not like she wanted to go on with the LustFactor dating games. And it's not like she didn't want to spend every second of the day with Jake.

So, the two couples spent the rest of the week together, sun bathing, talking, relaxing, although most of their time was spent making out, which no one ever complained about. It was only the first week of their trip of three months, none of them were worrying about what was going to happen afterwards, when it was all over. At least, no one was worrying about it out loud...

--

The foursome was pretty sad when the weekend arrived, because those two days were days that everyone had off, meaning the pool would be way more crowded. Peyton, Brooke, Jake and Lucas were used to it being just them and a couple of others. Not liking the idea of having to go there with the mob of all the other people on the cruise, they decided to stay in that day, hang out in one of the cabins.

"OK, here's the thing," Brooke was saying to Peyton in a low voice, biting her bottom lip. She had taken Peyton aside to talk to her alone. Peyton looked at her weirdly, a little afraid of what she was going to say. The thing was, Peyton really felt like being alone with Jake today. That week had been fun and all, with the four of them, but they hadn't really had any alone time that they both wanted. Peyton was thinking of how to break this to Brooke without sounding like she was kicking her out of something.

"What is it?" Peyton asked.

"Well..." Brooke said looking back at Lucas, not finishing her sentence.

"What? Is it something with you and Lucas? Did something happen?" Peyton questioned worriedly. If something wrong had happened with Brooke and Lucas, things could seriously go wrong.

"No, no nothing like that. It's just..." Brooke said, "Well..."

"Brooke, spit it out."

"Lucas and I kind of want to spend today alone," Brooke said in one single breath, stringing the words together, making it hard for Peyton to understand. A few seconds later, Peyton was able to figure it out. And when she did, she started laughing.

"Yeah, Brooke, sure, I was kind of about to tell you the same thing," Peyton said.

Brooke raised her eyebrows, "Oh... Are you and Jake...?" She said not needing to finish her sentence.

"Having sex?" Peyton asked whispering, not wanting the boys to hear her. Talk about embarrassing. "No...! Brooke, we just got together not even a week ago."

"Oh, don't give me that, Missy Blonde Girl, you know you want it," She said with a knowing look.

"I..." Peyton started. But the truth was she had thought about it a lot. And she wasn't exactly decided. She definitely wasn't ready to give herself like that to somebody again. And her and Jake weren't exactly at that point in their relationship yet. And he probably knew that, but still... He was in college, and clearly experienced, what was he expecting?

"Hello! P. Sawyer?" Brooke waved a hand in front of her face, waking Peyton up from her thoughts.

"I don't know what I want, Brooke," She said honestly, "Do you think I'm crazy for wanting to take it slow?"

Brooke smiled, and shook her head, "No, I don't think you're crazy," She said, then added, "But I do think you'll change your mind."

--

Peyton's POV 

"Finally," Jake said closing the door behind Brooke and Lucas. He turned around and smiled that adorable smile that makes me heart flutter and my stomach turned. What did that mean? 'Finally'? I gave him a weak smile, knowing that I wasn't exactly convincing, but it was the best I could do. Gosh, why was I so nervous? I was the one who wanted to be alone with him.

"Yeah..." I said unconvincingly. "Finally." Jake looked at me weirdly, as if he were inspecting me for a trace of something.

"Something wrong?" He asked, already knowing the answer. I tried to wipe off any uncomfortable looks off my face.

I shrugged, "No, I'm fine," I said smiling. He nodded and walked over to me, looking completely casual. That's one thing I love about Jake. He won't push me to talk about something. He'll find a way to make me feel comfortable even in the most uncomfortable of times. He wraps his arms around my waist and I practically melt in them.

I start to feel really stupid and foolish for my behavior before. It's not like it was the first time we had ever been in a room alone together. I mean, what had I expected? I put my arms around his neck and hug him tight, loving the feeling. When we pulled away he kept his arms around my waist, and looked deep into my eyes. How could a guy have such an intense look with someone he only started dating not even a week ago? It was eery, and awkward, and nerve-racking, but there was a sweetness, and softness in it as well, that made me feel perfectly fine with it. In fact, I was actually starting to really like it.

"You know..." He started to say, really casually, "I've been thinking..." He kind of trailed off, not finishing his sentence. My mind was going crazy. What had he been thinking! I remained calm though. He let go of me and went to sit on my bed and motioned for me to come sit next to him.

I hesitated. What did this mean? I went and sat next to him. I swear he would surely have to yell for me to be able to hear him over the sound of my heart beats. Deep breath, Peyton, deep breath, I kept telling myself. And it actually helped.

"This week, it's been..." Jake said, "different." Okay, not exactly the word I would describe it as. More like fantastic, amazing, incredible... But to my surprised, he shook his head looking as dissatisfied with the word choice as I was. "I mean, it's been... well, pretty great actually. I mean, I could barely think straight. Every night I went to sleep thinking 'man, tomorrow can never be as good as today' and it always was. And I haven't felt like this in... forever. And OK, we did just start dating, and we have only known each other for so long, but I can tell that what we have... it's," He searched for the right word, "It's one of a kind. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I think, just where we are in our relationship right now, we should probably take it slow." He said, looking unsure of himself, almost... nervous. It was adorable.

I didn't say anything for a second. I was just marveling at how wonderful this guy was, going over what he had just said a million times in my head. I felt like jumping up and dancing or something.

"Or... not take it slow, I mean, whatever you want..." Jake said after I hadn't said anything for a while. I snapped out of it and laughed.

"No," I said, smiling, "Slow is good." He looked relieved and happy, and that just made me that much happier. That we were both in a place that we wanted to be. We were happy and comfortable and in tune with one another, which is all I really wanted to be sure of. He dipped his head down to kiss, me and I kissed him back full force. I think it's a good sign, that while we were kissing to seal the deal, we were both smiling at the same time.

--

**AN: Sorry guys, it's a little short. I promise I'll update soon, thanks so much for reading and please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks to: prettygirl33, jeyton4ever, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06 (haha, I always love your reviews, they make me in such a happy mood. Thank you so much for all the support!) for the great reviews! **

**Chapter 9 **

Peyton's POV

I got up early this morning. I know, it's a Saturday and while everyone else was sleeping in as late as possible, I thought that then would be the perfect time to take a walk. Alone. I thought of passing by Jake's cabin. I knew Jake wouldn't have gotten mad, even though it was ridiculously early, he always seems to be just as happy to see me as I am to see him. But then I realized how badly I wanted just to have some alone time. Maybe sketch a little. The view was such a beautiful sight, I couldn't help but pull out my sketchbook right away, which, I have to admit, is pretty full of sketches of Jake. But before I could properly drown myself in my drawing, I noticed a bright pink flyer on one of the walls. When I looked closer I saw that it read:

"LustFactor Dance #1  
This Friday  
Sadie-Hawkens  
Mandatory Attendance"

Sadie-Hawkens, I thought as I felt the insides of my stomach churn. That meant the girls had to ask the guys. Great. But her and Jake were officially together now, so it wouldn't be too awkward. But what if some other girl asked him? It's not like they had really made it public. What were they supposed to do? Tell all those random people on the cruise? For a second I consider running to his cabin and waking him up just to ask him, but I got rid of that idea right away. What am I? Insane? I just have to ask him. And he just has to say yes. That's all...

---

General POV

"Where have you been?" Brooke said, the second Peyton came back in their cabin, a sly look on her face, obviously happy that she had caught Peyton.

"It's not what you think. I was by myself, just needed some fresh air," Peyton said, choosing to leave out the part about the dance. It shouldn't be long before Brooke heard about it anyway.

"Well..." Brooke said, "I was just checking LustFactor .com here and found out that we have a dance coming up!" She said clapping her hands excitedly.

"Brooke, you do realize that we are on a LustFactor .com cruise right now," Peyton said.

"Yeah," Brooke said slowly, not getting the point.

"And you're checking anyway?" Peyton asked.

"Yes," Brooke said, still not getting it.

"Never mind. Forget it," Peyton gave up, "I already knew about the dance," she said, changing the subject.

"And you didn't tell me?" Brooke said, acting offended but Peyton knew her well enough to tell that she didn't really care.

"I just did," Peyton replied, "Besides, you already knew."

"Right well it's a Sadie Hawkens dance, which means-"

"Girls ask the guys, I know Brooke," Peyton said unenthusiastically.

"Well, you know what this means right?" Brooke asked as if the answer were obvious. Yes, Peyton thought, the girls get to get all nervous and self-conscious about asking the guys. When Peyton didn't answer, Brooke continued, "We, Missy Blonde Girl, have some planning to do!"

---

Jake's POV

"What the hell is a 'Sadie Hawkens' dance?" Luke asked the second we walked by one of the bright pink flyers, on our way to go visit the girls. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"It's when the girls ask the guys," I told him and he lightly punched my arm for laughing at him. "This should be interesting."

"Not really, we already know who we're going with, man." Lucas pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

"Unless..." He said, and I eyed him weirdly, "Well, unless Peyton just got sick of this whole waiting for the right moment thing and just decided not to be with you any more." He teased, kind of scaring me for real at the same time. But I didn't let it show.

"Shut up, dude," I defended, "She agreed to take things slow too. You know neither of us is ready for that anyway."

Luke held up his hands in defense, "OK," he said, smirking. "But seriously, a dance could be a good chance to have some fun." He said, thankfully changing the subject.

"Yeah," I said, "or a good chance to create some very unneeded drama."

---

The second I saw Peyton leaning over the bannister I began to go crazy. She looked really carefree, like she was thinking about nothing at all. Did that mean she hadn't seen the flyers? Should I mention them? Should I casually walk by them with her and accidently stumble upon one of them? I decided that this was creating way to much stress for me to just stand there and think about it. I walked up behind her and put my arms around her. She almost jumped in surprise and turned around to find me there.

"Hey you," I said as she relaxed in my arms. It felt and was so perfect.

"Hey," She said and I kissed her 'hello'. Just a peck, there would definitely be time for more later.

"What's up?" I asked as casually as I could as my curiosity grew inside of me wildly.

"Nothing," She said playing with my hair. It was something she had started doing recently, just running her fingers through my hair. It felt pretty damn good, I had to say.

"Nothing new?" I said, wondering if maybe I was pressing it a little.

"Nope," She said. I was about to ask if she was absolutely sure that there was nothing new with her, but I thankfully stopped myself.

---

Peyton's POV

I had to say bye to Jake, telling him that me and Brooke were going to catch up and have a girls-day today. Which basically meant that the whole day we would be planning creative and cool ways to ask the boys to the dance. At first Brooke was really the only one into the idea, really excited about it, but later I kind of caught on. It would be pretty cool to do something special for Jake. Why not?

"Alright, when do you think we should have it all prepared by?" Brooke asked me.

"It'd probably be good if we could ask them tonight." I suggested.

"I thought so to. And that means that we don't have much time. We need to start brainstorming ideas!" She said running around and coming back with a piece of paper and a pen. Let the madness begin...

---

Finally dinner-time had arrived and Brooke and me were both ready to go. My stomach was turning around and upside-down and I couldn't keep still, and even though I hated that feeling, I kind of loved it at the same time. It was so thrilling and exciting, I felt like a little girl. Brooke had arranged for the four of us to meet up for dinner, than afterwards we would go our separate ways to have our 'alone-time' with our guys and ask them to the dance. Brooke and I were standing out in front of the boat waiting for Lucas and Jake to come. Every now and then Brooke would insist that we go over the plan just once more to make sure we got it right. The fluttery, nervous feeling in my heart multiplied the second I saw Jake and Lucas coming near us and I couldn't help but smile. When Brooke noticed Lucas there, she squealed and ran over and jumped into his arms. A little extreme, but that's Brooke for you.

"You look beautiful," Jake said when he got to me and put his arms around my waist. I looked down at my jeans and halter-top. Did I really?

"Thanks," I said, "You don't look too shabby yourself." I kissed him and then we went to join Brooke and Lucas.

---  
  
General POV

Right after dinner, Lucas and Brooke announced that they were leaving to go to the boys' cabin. Brooke winked at Peyton and Peyton stuck her tongue out. While Brooke and Peyton "went to the bathroom" during dinner, they had gone to prepare everything in the boys' cabin. Everything was set.

Lucas opened the door to his cabin, excited for him and Brooke to get some alone time. When he looked inside he was surprised to find multi-colored streamers hanging everywhere and the hugest banner he had possible ever seen with the words "Will You Go To The Dance With Me?" written on it. Lucas was pretty shocked. In-fact, he didn't say a word for a very long time. Brooke walked them into the room and shut the door. Smiling at Lucas's expression, she knew she had succeeded in surprising him. She slowly pulled her shirt over her head, so she was only in a bra. Lucas's eyes widened even more. Brooke ignored him and turned around so he could see that on her lower back was written: "Please Say Yes". How sexy is that? Lucas asked himself. Before he knew it he was spinning Brooke around and attaching his lips to hers. They got lost in each other and for a moment Lucas forgot what he was thinking and then remembered and pulled away.

"Brooke Davis, you are the greatest, sexiest girl I have ever met. I would love to go to the dance with you," He said and kissed her again.

---

Jake and Peyton walked to the girls' cabin. Peyton was growing more and more nervous and Jake was too, but for different reasons. What exactly was going to happen in that cabin?

"Wait here," Peyton said as she went inside and left Jake out there. As she closed the door Jake saw that a small blue envelope was attached to the door-nob. He wasn't sure if it was his to open but then he turned it over and saw that it said "Jake" on it and figured that he should open it. Inside he found an index card saying "Wait ten seconds, then come in and find the next envelope on my night-stand." Jake smirked, wondering if Peyton could get any cuter? He didn't think so...

He counted to ten and then slowly turned the door nob and entered the room. It was pretty dark, but illuminated with candles here and there. Some soft rock was playing in the background. He immediately looked on the night-stand and found the next blue envelope and opened it finding another index card, "Go into the bathroom. And no, this probably isn't what you think..." He smirked and followed her orders. His smile broadened about ten times as much when he opened the door to the bathroom to find "Will You Go To The Dance With Me?" written in red rose pedals on the floor and another blue envelope next to the message. He wanted to laugh out loud he was so happy. But he contained himself and opened up the envelope. The message read: "Please say your answer out loud."

---

Peyton had her eyes tightly closed shut as she sat cross-legged in the bathtub, not sure how long she could take the suspense. She heard Jake laughing, which meant he probably read the final card. He's laughing, she thought, that could either be a good sign or a very very bad one. She hoped for the good one. "Yes," She heard him yell, and she could practically hear the smile on his face. She rushed to get up and pulled back the curtain in one swift instant.

"Aahh!" Jake screamed clutching his heart for dear life and jumping back against the wall. Peyton couldn't contain her laughter for very long. "I'm so sorry!" She said in between laughs. "God, you scared me half to death," Jake said, laughing a little now, too. "Come here," Peyton said grabbing his head and pulling him down to her, not wanting to wait any longer. From the second he said 'yes' she had been needing to kiss him fully, and meaningfully.

---

**AN: OK thanks guys so much for reading! I hope you liked it! Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Thanks so much to ****OTH.daddy'sgurl.06 for reviewing and for telling me that that last chapter was all bunched together. I'm so sorry about that, I have no idea what happened. I think I fixed it, so it's much easier to read now. And OTH.daddy'sgurl.06, you are awesome for reading my whole other fic and for always reviewing to this fic. Your constant support has been amazing, thanks so much!**

**CHAPTER 10**

Peyton's POV

"What the hell are we even supposed to wear to this thing anyway?" I asked, rummaging through all the clothes I had brought on the trip, not satisfied with my choice.

"It's a dance," Brooke said as if that answered my question. Thanks. That really helps.

"Meaning...?"

She rolled her eyes playfully mocking me as if to say 'I can't believe you don't know this!' "Meaning, you have to look hot." She said walking over to me and my pile of clothes. In maybe four seconds she pulled out a black mini and a green halter-top. "There you go. Wear that!"

"How did you do that?" She gave me a blank look. "I've been staring at this pile of clothes for twenty minutes and in two seconds you find me the perfect outfit."

Brooke pretended to think about this. "Practice," She answered smiling, "Years and years of practicing." I laughed at her. "Speaking of which..." She said raising her eyebrows and looking at me weirdly, "You think tonight might be_ the night_ for you and Jake?"

"How is that a 'speaking of which'?" I said laughing at my best friend's improper use of the phrase.

"Whatever," She said, "You're avoiding the question."

"Fine..." I said, giving up, "I honestly don't know when '_the night_' is going to be. But I don't think I'm ready right now." Brooke nodded along. That's what I love about her. I mean she might play and tease about how much I should have sex, but when it comes to my true feelings about the matter, no one understands me better than her. "Besides, we agreed to take things slow." I added.

---

Jake's POV

Luckily, Lucas and I are pretty low-maintenance guys. It takes us all of five or so minutes to get ready. Which is fortunate because by the time I got back to the cabin with Jenny after going for a swim, we only had fifteen minutes before we had to go pick up the girls. I jumped in and out of the shower, got dressed, tried making my hair somewhat in control, brushed my teeth, in all of twelve minutes. Pretty impressive.

"Alright, honey, we're going to drop you off at the day-care." I said to Jenny, pretty out of breath from all the running around in record time stuff.

"Yay!" She said, jumping up and down. She had really grown fond of that day-care and the other kids there. Still, I felt bad for sometimes spending not enough time with her as I should have, that's why I had made today and sort of father-daughter day. But not tonight. Tonight was the dance. And the dance would be awesome. I hope.

Luke and I dropped off Jenny on our way to the girls' cabin. Call me crazy but I was actually getting kind of nervous. I had the high-school-boy feeling, and it felt nice. I knocked on the door, and heard Brooke squeal inside. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh. Peyton opened the door looking extremely cute. Pretty much like she always did. I couldn't tell her because before we knew it Brooke pushed passed us to attack Lucas.

It would have been awkward, but to tell you the truth I was too concentrated on Peyton to even fully notice the two lovebirds right next to me. "You look great." I said, kissing her forehead.

"Thanks," She said giving me a shy smile.

---

General POV

Jake and Peyton walked into the dance, hand in hand. Brooke and Lucas following closely behind, Lucas's arm wrapped around her waist. It was dark, with colored lights, very flashy. It pretty much mirrored any average high school dance. Peyton was started to get excited, and Brooke even more so.

"Oh, I love this song," Brooke hinted, not so discretely, and started swaying her hips to the beat. Lucas escorted her to the dance floor and they started dancing.

Jake, ever so casually, nodded his head toward the dance floor, and raised his eyebrows asking her to dance using no words. Smooth. Peyton smiled and nodded her head. Jake smiled and walked them over next to Brooke and Lucas and they started dancing to the beat. Then something weird happened. Peyton saw a flash. That's funny, she thought, I don't remember there being a strobe-light. Then she saw a tall, skinny man dressed from head-to-toe in black, with one of those old-fashioned cameras looking right at her. But right when she looked at him he averted his gaze somewhere else. Weird. Peyton brushed it off, however, wanted to enjoy the moment.

After the song was over, Brooke and Peyton went to 'freshen up' in the bathroom, in other words, talk about their dates. Peyton didn't even know what the hell 'freshening up' was.

"So, Missy Blonde Girl, how's your night going?" Brooke asked as she applied a new layer of lip-gloss on. Peyton was about to tell her that there was no point in doing that, it was just going to get wiped off the second they find the guys again. But she stopped herself.

"Pretty perfect, actually." Peyton said. "And yours?"

Brooke squealed, "I had forgotten how much fun dances were! And Lucas... he's so great."

Peyton smiled. Brooke seemed really genuinely happy. And seeing Brooke that happy, made Peyton pretty darn happy too.

---

Peyton's POV

The second we got out of the bathroom, the guys greeted us. I hoped they hadn't been waiting there the whole time. Jake handed me a cup with punch in it. I took a sip than reached up and gave him a big kiss. I had just realized that all that night I hadn't kissed him yet. It didn't seem right. He seemed surprise, but thankfully kissed me back.

"What was that for?" He asked cutely after we pulled away.

"Thank you, Jake. For all of this. Going to the dance with me. Actually dancing with me. Getting me punch. Being yourself..." The list went on and on, but I didn't want to bore him.

"It's nothing, Peyton. I wanted to do all those things."

"Still, it means a lot to me." I said, but something distracted me. There it was again. The flash. I looked around and I spotted the same guy with the camera standing next to the chips bowl. The same thing happened when I looked at him, he just turned away. "OK," I said, in a low voice even though it wasn't really necessary, there was no way he could hear me from over there. "Don't look now, but that guy over by the chips bowl keeps taking pictures of us."

Jake's eyes grew a little wider, "What?" He asked turning around to look, just as I told him not to. But it was ok the guy wasn't looking. Jake looked like he was going to be sick. But that came and went in a flash. Two seconds later he looked like the regular Jake. This struck me as add too, but I decided not to mention it.

"Well, I mean, it's probably just LustFactor people taking pictures for the website or something, right?" He said brushing it off.

"Yeah," I said, unsure. Than why did he always look away when I looked at him?

---

**AN: I know kinda weird chapter, right? I hope it was still good! Please review! Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Thanks so much for the great reviews to ****OTH.daddy'sgurl.06, and Jeyton4ever. Even though I don't get quite as many reviews as I would like to receive on this story, I'm always blown away by the incredibly kind reviews you give me, so it's all worth it! Thanks again, so much!**

**Chapter 11**

Peyton's POV

"Ow, Peyton, what are you doing?" Brooke asked as I pulled her away from the guys for a second, not noticing that I was gripping her arm kind of hard.

"Sorry," I said as we stopped in a corner. I couldn't help but glance over my shoulder to see if someone was looking at us. It was weird, I know, I was totally over reacting, but something wasn't right with this photographer guy.

"So what's all this secrecy about?"

"Do you believe that that guy is just taking pictures of us for I asked. She looked at me a little weird. Like maybe she thought I had had much too much to drink. Which is ridiculous, 'cause I hadn't had anything to drink.

"Yeah," She said slowly, "Why?"

"OK, it's just that... I've only seen him take pictures of me and Jake and every time I look over at him he just turns away mysteriously like... like he's under-cover or something!" I said, getting way over my head, but I just couldn't stop. I was on a roll here.

"Yes, Peyton, you're right," said my best friend sarcastically, "You must be wanted by the police or something and that guy with the camera must be from the CIA." I sighed. She was right, this was ridiculous.

"OK. I'm sorry I ranted about this to you. We can just forget this ever happened." I said. Brooke gave me a 'yeah right' look and we headed back to our guys.

---

Jake's POV

"Hey, babe, is everything OK?" I asked as I put my arm protectively around Peyton. I wouldn't admit it out loud but it kind of worried me when Peyton said she urgently needed to talk to Brooke for a second. Call me insecure, but I really hoped that there wasn't something wrong with tonight. It had been going really well so far.

"Yeah, everything's fine." She said hugging me. That reassured me that tonight was still good. "Brooke made me see that I was just overreacting to the whole photographer thing." I quickly scan the crowd.

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen him around anymore, so you're free anyway." I said.

"Great."

Then Luke and Brooke came up. "Hey," Luke said, "We were thinking if you guys are bored with this yet we can go and hang out in one of our cabins." Brooke whispers something in his ear. "Oh, well never mind, you guys have a good time, we're going to... well, go. Bye." And the rushed off with only enough time for Brooke to yell out "We'll be in his room!" to Peyton.

Great. OK, could this situation be any more awkward? We laugh a little at Luke and Brooke's little bit, but things get weird pretty soon. What should I do or say? I can't invite her over to her own cabin! Is she going to invite me? Will it become even more weird if we go there? My mind is going to explode!

"So...Do you want to-" Peyton starts to say. Someone starts walking towards us. Well, towards me actually. _No, no this cannot be happening. Not now._ It's the photographer.

"Jake? Jake Jegelski! Over here!" He's yelling and waving his arms around like a mad man. Which makes it extrememlly hard to ignore him as I'm trying to do.

"What? Jake, how does that guy know your name?" Peyton says. Her gorgeous green eyes look alarmed and I can't look at her.

"Um.. well, Peyton... I should probably tell you some-" I try to say but I can't. Not with people around. Not with Mr. Camera here in my face. I turn to face him to tell him to get lost but he just snaps away. I put my hand out to block him but it doesn't really work. "Hey man! Do you mind?" Apparently not, the guy just keeps shooting.

"Mr. Jegelski, who's your new girlfriend?" He yells out. Great, now we're starting to have an audience. Why isn't anyone stopping this guy? Is there no security here?

"Who the hell are_ you_?" Peyton asked. This is killing me. How did this all happen again? What's going through Peyton's mind right now? God, she looks mad. But not at me. That's a good thing right? Damn, is she going to be mad at me when she finds out...

"Look, lady, I'm sorry, this is my job. Didn't you know the price when came here with Jake Jegelski?" The camera guy said. Great. Great! It just keeps getting worse...

Finally someone comes to take him away. I thank them a million times! And I'm almost fully relieved but then I turn to Peyton and realize that the worst is definitely coming. And I deserve every second of it.

---

General POV

"OK," Jake said calmly, "Can we talk somewhere more private?"

Peyton just nodded. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think. To know those things you'd have to have a clue as to what just went on in there, and she didn't.

Jake led them out outside to a quiet place. He opened and closed his mouth several times in a couple of minutes not knowing where to start. OK, he thought, the truth, start with the truth.

"OK, so there's something that you don't know about me... That you should know about... But you don't know about it... Because... well, because I didn't tell you... But I should have..." Jake said just confusing himself. He was rambling and he needed to stop.

"Jake," Peyton said, not looking to happy, "I'm annoyed and confused. Please just tell me what's going on."

"Right, ok, here goes: My mom is mayor of Wilmington." Jake said.

Peyton let it sink in. "OK. Do people really care that much about the mayor of Wilmington. I mean, they hire paparazzi to take pictures of the mayor's son?" Peyton said. This seemed a little too weird for her to grasp.

"Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't ask that. OK, here's the hard part... Look Peyton, I would have told you this if I thought it was at all important." Jake said. This was not going well, and he could tell.

"Jake, just say it, ok?" Peyton said.

"OK, well there's kind of a... scandal right now. See my mom's running for re-election and there was this whole thing... and I ended up being accused for... sleeping with the daughter of my mom's opponent." Jake said softly. It did feel good to tell the truth. But he was dying inside. How is Peyton going to take this? Should he have told her a long time ago?

"... And did you?" Peyton asked.

"No! No, no, god no! Look, nothing like that happened, but once the press gets a juicy story they're going to stick with it. I had no idea that they would go as far as to have someone follow me on this cruise though."

"How could he even get on here, he's like at least forty?"

"He must have paid the people here to let him on and keep quiet about him being here, these people do things like that all the time. I'm so sorry Peyton. I didn't want you to be in the middle of this."

"So..." Peyton said, trying to understand, "that photographer has been here... the whole time?"

"Yes."

"Jake, I need you to tell me the truth about this: Did you see him anytime during this trip, taking pictures of us, before today?" Peyton said.

Jake took a deep breath. This wasn't happening. This was not happening. "...Yes, I did, but-"

"Oh, god," Peyton said, more to herself. How could this have happened? There were pictures out there of them two? Were they going to be published? Were people actually going to see them and go, 'oh look, there's Jake Jegelski's new girl. I wonder how long she's going to last!'

"Look, I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to ruin anything we had!"

"Yeah, 'had' being the key-word there!" Peyton yelled.

"OK, it was stupid I know," Jake said, hoping beyond hope that Peyton wouldn't storm off. "I'm so sorry, I know that I should have told you-"

"I can't, Jake! I just can't take this. This is too much for me right now. I have to go," Peyton said all in one breath. One more second there and she would have lost it. She needed to let it sink in. She needed to relax. And she really needed to be away from Jake for a moment.

---

**AN: Oh the drama! I'm sorry if that was kind of a weird twist! Hopefully you still like it! Please tell me what you thought and review! Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews to OTH.daddy'sgurl.06!**

**Just A Ride**

**Chapter 12**

Peyton's POV

All I wanted to do when I got back into me cabin was rest. Sleep. Cry... But no. I couldn't even get that. Today, just really wasn't my day. My face tear-stained, my eyes red, and my smile turned upside-down, I got to my cabin to find the last person I wanted to see standing there. Not Jake. The photographer. The paparazzi. Whatever he was. I was not going to put on a fake smile. I was not going to pretend that I didn't hate his guts right now. I gave a loud, obvious sigh and asked him what he wanted. Not politely.

"I just want a statement. Maybe a picture." He said, not seeming to get my hints. Or maybe he did, he just didn't care. "Are you two in love? Are you aware of his current situation? How does that make you feel?"

"Please, sir," I said actually trying to be nice. I just wanted to get to bed. "Can you please let me go to my cabin."

"I notice you look like you've been crying," He said, not sympathetically, and just like that my niceness disappeared.

"Look, man-" I started to say, but then heard quick footsteps of something running towards me. I was afraid to turn around

"Peyton!" I was relieved to hear Brooke's voice. She stood next to me and gave the guy a weird look. "Is there a problem?" She asked him point-blank.

"I just wanted to take a picture. Get a statement. Then I can leave you at peace." The man said. Brooke stepped forward.

"I think you've had enough pictures for one night, don't you? So why don't you leave, so I don't shove you overboard so _you_ can be at peace... with the fish." The man stood there for a moment and glanced back at me. I averted my eyes and hung my head. He left.

---

Jake's POV

"I'm sorry yours and Brooke's night had to be cut short because of me," I said, unbuttoning my shirt. I wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight. I knew that. Still, the only thing that looked comforting right now was my warm bed. Because once I was in it, I wouldn't be able to leave it's comfort, meaning I wouldn't be able to crawl back to Peyton's cabin and make an idiot out of myself again and make her even more mad. Even I knew that I was the last person she wanted to see right now... Oh man, how am I ever going to get myself out of this one?

"Relax, it's ok. Brooke's there for Peyton, and I'm here for you," Luke said. I wasn't even sure Lucas was going to be on my side for this one. Heck, I wasn't even on my side.

"Well, thanks. But this is all my fault..."

"Well yeah." Lucas said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "You screwed up. Big time, man." Usually I would throw something at him, or punch him playfully at something like this. But I didn't. And that was for two reasons: one, because I was just too damn lazy and did not want to get out of bed, and two, more importantly, I knew he was right.

"I don't even..." I sighed, I didn't know if I wanted to say it.

"You don't even what?" Lucas asked. I sighed again. Saying it would make it real. But it was real.

"I don't even know if I can get her to forgive me."

---

General POV

"I hate this," Brooke said. She was sitting with Lucas the next morning by the pool. They were sharing one of the mats. Jake was on one mat and Peyton was on another, on the other side of the pool. They had both insisted that they would be fine and that Lucas and Brooke should still hang out.

"I know, babe, but what are we supposed to do?" Lucas asked. This whole fight was really bringing everyone down. Not only that but that photographer guy was showing up much more and annoying the crap out of everyone.

"I don't know, but I feel like as the best friends, we need to do something. Intervene somehow," Brooke said. Lucas would normally be into this sort of idea. Anything to get his best friend happy again, not to mention make Brooke happy. But it didn't seem like it could work in this case. Jake was miserable and obviously dying to talk to Peyton. He kept stealing glances at her from across the pool. But Peyton... She was completely different. She hadn't looked at him once since they got there and she held a cold, expressionless face while reading a magazine.

"Brooke, baby, I know what you're saying..." Lucas said, "But sadly, I think this one's up to them..."

"You're right," Brooke said, unhappy about the fact that she couldn't help out her best friend even a little. Not counting the various threats she's sent to the photographer. "There's nothing we can do."

"We just have to have a little faith," Lucas said kissing Brooke's forehead sweetly, he knew this was bringing her down.

---


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Thanks for the reviews to: jeyton4ever, S0phiaVal3ntine, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06!**

**Just A Ride**

**Chapter 13**

Peyton's POV

"Oh my god, did you hear?"

"I can't believe it!"

"Is it true? Is it actually happening?"

The sweet sounds of gossip quickly filled the boat just a couple of days after the debacle at the dance. Maybe everyone has been in gossip mode since the dance, I thought, and I just didn't notice it until today because... well, frankly, I've been a mess. The only person who's company I enjoy is Brooke's, she's been great, comforting me and all. But I can't be selfish. She has Lucas. And let's face it... Lucas can't really spend a whole entire day not seeing her at least twice. Which is great... I'm happy for them... really...

"Peyton!" There she is. My little ray of hope. Waiting for me in our cabin.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked. She seemed really excited about something, and not caring about her hair being messy and wet (a first).

"P. Sawyer, you will _never_ guess what I heard!"

"What is it?" I asked, getting a little excited myself. I have to say, I was never one for gossip before, but being stuck on a boat with barely anyone I knew... I kind of missed it. And by Brooke's jumping up and down, I could tell it wasn't bad news.

"Ok, so this other girl in the pool was saying how this guy that she hooked up had heard from his friend who had hooked up with this girl that actually works here who-"

"Brooke, I'm totally not following. Spare all the in between stuff, what's the exciting part?" I loved Brooke to death, but she really got ahead of herself sometimes.

"Right. Ok, but just remember that this _may_ not be true..."

"Yeah, I know."

"It's _just_ gossip..."

"Brooke, just tell me!"

"Okay, okay," She said smirking, and I sitting down on my bed next to her, who was squealing with excitement. "You know how ever Jake's been all mopey-dopey since your fight?"

"Really? I haven't noticed," I lied. She knew it, but she kept going anyways.

"Well I guess he'd had enough, and decided to finally do something about it."

"What'd you mean? Brooke, what did you say to him?"

"Nothing! For once, I actually didn't intervene!" She said, and I believed her, "So anyways, apparently, yesterday he went straight to the pilot's office and demanded for them to turn around early and go back to North Carolina!"

"_What?_" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wait, there's more. So then the pilot said no, and that if he had a problem he needed to take it to the Lust-Factor people. So Jake went straight to the workers in their office and started going off about how he was going to _sue_ them for letting the paparazzi on the bus. I heard he was so mad, that the workers just complied. They said that he was right, and that it was the right thing to do to just turn the boat around and go back early."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. What was there to say? This was all... amazing and unbelievable, but it didn't prove that Jake was sorry... that he wanted to patch things up... I guess Brooke took my silence as a sign for her to keep going.

"Jake hasn't been out of his cabin since. Lucas tells me that he never wants to talk to him about it and just kind of keeps to himself. But Jake did say that he was scared that you could never forgive him." I just sat there. Staring into space. Thinking about everything. Or really just thinking about something. Someone.

"Peyton?" Brooke asked, rubbing my back soothingly.

"How could I possibly forgive him?" I said.

"Peyton, I know it's hard, and I know you got hurt, but... I know you could find it in her heart-"

"No," I interrupted her, "I mean, how can I forgive him, if he won't even talk to me?"

"Well, actually..." Brooke said getting up to get something out of her purse, she handed me a small, white envelope. A letter. "He told me to give this to you."

"He couldn't even give this to me himself?" I asked, a little angry. Either Jake was just inconsiderate, or gravely insecure. And knowing Jake, it was definitely the second one.

"Just read it, ok? I hate to see you this way, Peyton, you know that." Brooke said sympathetically. "I guess I'll leave you alone for a bit. Call me if you need me, okay?" I nodded and she left.

After a couple deep breaths, and a few hesitations, I finally opened it.

_Peyton,_

_I don't know if you've heard, but the boat's going to turn around, head back to North Carolina. We should be there in a matter of days. I would hate to go home and leave things the way we left it. Not telling you about the photographer, my mom, everything going on in my life... was wrong. I'm so completely sorry for everything, and for how you had to find out about it. You have to know that I care about you so much. It scares me to think that someone I've met only a couple of weeks ago, changed my life so much. I've never cared so much about anyone in my life, and I mean that. I was only trying to protect you, and instead you ended up hurt, and it's all my fault. I know that you have no reason to forgive me, and I know that asking for you to in a letter is totally lame... so look in your closet._

_Jake._

A couple tears running down my cheeks, I walked over to whatever could be in my closet. For all I know this could be a Brooke thing, you know. Brooke writing the letter to make me feel better and hiding chocolates in my closet. She used to do that kind of thing all the time when we were little. With a shaky hand, I opened my closet door.

"Aah!" I shrieked when I found, not candy, not flowers, but an actually human body on the floor of the closet. The body was curled up under a few coats, soundly asleep. Until I had screamed that is. It was Jake. Of course it was. Only he would think of something so clever, then fall asleep at just the wrong moment. When he heard my scream however he jumped up.

"Wha- What's going on?" He said, flustered, until he came back to reality and remembered what he was doing there, and looked up at me. Suddenly I felt weak, I really felt like I was going to faint. I remembered that time that I had scared the crap out of Jake, after asking him to the dance:

**FlashBack**

_Jake's smile broadened about ten times as much when he opened the door to the bathroom to find "Will You Go To The Dance With Me?" written in red rose pedals on the floor and another blue envelope next to the message. He wanted to laugh out loud he was so happy. But he contained himself and opened up the envelope. The message read: "Please say your answer out loud."_

_Peyton had her eyes tightly closed shut as she sat cross-legged in the bathtub, not sure how long she could take the suspense. She heard Jake laughing, which meant he probably read the final card. He's laughing, she thought, that could either be a good sign or a very very bad one. She hoped for the good one._

_"Yes," She heard him yell, and she could practically hear the smile on his face. She rushed to get up and pulled back the curtain in one swift instant._

_"Aahh!" Jake said clutching his heart for dear life and jumping back against the wall. Peyton couldn't contain her laughter for very long._

_"I'm so sorry!" She said in between laughs._

_"God, you scared me half to death," Jake said, laughing a little now, too._

_"Come here," Peyton said grabbing his head and pulling him down to her, not wanting to wait any longer. From the second he said 'yes' she had been needing to kiss him fully, and meaningfully. _

**End Of FlashBack**

This memory, however, didn't make me faint, it just made me start to cry harder. I scooted backwards until I could sit down on my bed. Jake stood up but kept his distance. We stayed there for a while, silently gazing into each other's eyes. Neither of us wanted to be the first to speak.

"So..." I said, hating the silence, "You said something about asking for forgiveness?"

---

**AN: Ok guys, that's all for now... leaving you in suspense! I will update soon though! Please review! Thanks so much for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Thanks for the great reviews: S0phiaVal3ntine, jeyton4ever, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06! Now I know I've said this before but I'll say it again: even though I don't get quite as many reviews as I would like, I'm constantly blown away by the amazing feedback I get from you guys! So thanks a million times, you guys are great! **

**Chapter 14**

A Few Days Later

After the couple of weeks they had spent on the cruise, everyone on the boat had fallen in love with little Jenny Jegelski. They would spoil her with kisses, hugs, and candy every time they saw the little angel. Which only made it harder for her to leave.

"Daddy, do we have to go?" She pleaded, glancing up at her father with puppy-eyes.

"Yes, sweetie," Jake said, picking up his daughter. "It's time to go." Jenny pouted for a little, but then let it go. She wasn't one to pick a fight, or hold a grudge and Jake was very thankful for that. How could a child, growing up with a teenage father and without a mother, be so perfect? It blew him away.

Speaking of perfection, Jake thought as he noticed a certain blonde standing in the crowd. There was a large crowd of everyone on the boat waiting to get out. They had arrived back to North Carolina that morning.

Jake stared at Peyton Sawyer openly. Her beauty and poise had taken over his thoughts. She was so gorgeous and she didn't even know it. Her laugh made Jake's heart fly in his chest, yet she rarely laughed. Jake stared at the girl that made the last two weeks of his life the best he had ever had, standing next to the certain brunette who had made Lucas probably the happiest he had ever been, too.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Jake shook himself out of his thoughts, and focused on Jenny, who was now jumping up and down to get his attention.

"Yes, angel, what is it?" Jake asked.

"Can I say buy to Peyton and Brooke?"

"Um. You know, I'm not sure if that's such a great idea..." Jake hesitated.

_"So..." Peyton said, "You said something about asking for forgiveness?"_

_"Ok..." Jake started, "The thing is: I didn't know that- no, wait, let me start over... Well, I know that you're mad. And... I know that I hate the fact that you're mad. And...," Jake sighed, "This isn't making any sense, is it?"_

_"Not really."_

_"Right..." Jake said, desperate for something perfect to say, but nothing came. Oh well, he thought, I'll just improvise. "Um, I'm really not experienced with giving big, meaningful apologies-"_

_"Clearly," Peyton said, losing interest. She thought that maybe him hiding in her closet meant that he was actually going to try to get her back. She thought that maybe just maybe he would sweep her off her feet and she could finally be happy. But now Jake made it seem like he hadn't thought this through at all. What a waste of my time, Peyton thought to herself._

Jake saw Jenny's sad face. She had really bonded with Peyton and Brooke over that past two weeks. "I mean, of course you can go say good-bye to them!" Jake said, instantly cheering Jenny up. "Let's go." And he led the way towards where Lucas was with his arm around Brooke, and Peyton nearby.

"Jenny!" Brooke's face lit up when she saw the little girl running towards her. Peyton was glad to see her as well. This brought a smile to Jake's face, the two girls he cared for the most in his life.

"Jenny wanted to say good-bye, before we leave." Jake said, staring at Peyton the whole time, noticing that she was averting her eyes, so that she didn't have to look at him. She was obviously uncomfortable.

Brooke had noticed this, too and was looking from Peyton to Jake and from Jake to Peyton weirdly. Jake gave her a shrug as to point out that he had no idea why Peyton was acting like this.

As Jenny was saying good-bye to Peyton and Brooke, Lucas and Jake were able to talk. "OK, so what was that about with you and Peyton?" Lucas asked.

"I really don't know," He answered. "I guess I should try and talk to her before we leave."

Lucas sighed, "I really don't want to leave..." He said, looking over at Brooke. "God, I am going to miss her so much. There is no limit to how much money I'm going to spend on gas, driving down to Tree Hill to visit her."

---

"Peyton, what's wrong?" Brooke asked.

"What? Nothing's wrong," Peyton lied, not looking Brooke in the eye.

"Is it Jake?" Ok, Peyton thought, there's no use in lying to my best friend.

"I'm just..." Peyton started, "Not sure that we made the right choice."

_"Look, Jake, maybe you're just not ready. It's obvious that you haven't really thought this through, and if you're just hear to say random things that you don't mean, then I don't want to hear it," Peyton said._

_"No! No no no, Peyton, it's not like that. I've been wanting to talk to you since the night of the dance and this whole... thing happened, but I've been too shy and afraid and stupid!" Jake said. He didn't want her to think even for a second that he wasn't interested, or ready. He wanted this to work more than anything!_

_"God, Peyton, I am so sorry!" Jake continued, "None of this was supposed to happen. It's so hard for me to have relationships because of the paparazzi, and the confusion, and the politics and everything, and I had never really met anyone that was worth all the trouble... Until I met you." Jake said, pouring his heart and soul into this speech._

_"Jake... You have to know that I care about you as much as you care about me... But, paparazzi, politics, rumors... It's all too much for me to handle." She said sadly. She wanted this to work out, she really did, but she didn't think it was possible._

_"Well... what if we can find a way to make it work?" Jake said._

"Maybe you should talk to him," Brooke suggested, "See what he thinks. Maybe he agrees with you."

"Yeah, maybe." Peyton said, but she stayed where she was.

---

"Hey, Luke, can you take Jenny for a second?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, sure, man. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if I can talk to Peyton." Jake said, and Lucas patted him on the back.

Jake walked over, about ten feet from where Peyton and Brooke were standing in the crowd. He looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to him, but he didn't see anything. He looked over at Peyton and saw that she was looking right at him. He, as casually as he could, nodded his head in the direction of the bathrooms. Peyton seemed to get it and nodded. They wanted to be in private.

Jake walked into the guys bathroom first, to see if anyone was there, but the coast was clear, so Peyton followed soon after. As soon as the door was closed, she quickly attached herself to Jake, kissing him hard and passionately. Jake tried to keep up and pushed them against a wall, he was kissing her back with such force, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. They had waited so long to do this. Walking around outside like they were strangers only made them eager to be finally alone, where they could be together.

_Peyton looked at Jake curiously. "Well, what did you have in mind?"_

_"OK, now you may not like it. But it might be the only way to really make this work. At least until we get back home." Jake said nervously. What if she doesn't like the plan?_

_"What is it?" Peyton asked impatiently. "Wait, first..." She said, getting up and walking over to him. She reached her arms around his neck and kissed him, sweetly. It was over in a second, and Jake would have nothing of that, so he dipped back down and kissed her fully, pulling her body against his. She felt so good in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go. After several lovely moments of pure bliss, they pulled apart. _

_Jake was so pleased to see that wide smile upon Peyton's lips. "So, what's your plan, boyfriend?" Peyton asked, very curious now as to what he was going to say._

_"Well, I just think that until we get back to North Carolina, since the photographer is still here, and by now probably everyone on the boat knows about... well, our little story... We could be together, but-"_

_"Secretly." Peyton finished for him, knowing where it was going. "I think that's do-able." _

_"Really? I know it kind of sucks. And believe me I want to show you off to the world so badly, but I think right now, considering everything, if we just kind of act like nothing's going on for the public, we can still be together in private."_

_Although deep down it bothered Peyton a little that they would have to keep their relationship a secret, she knew that this was the best way to make it work. At least until they got off the cruise._

_"It's fine by me." Peyton said, reaching up to kiss him once more._

Peyton thought that that plan would be cool, even fun to pretend that they weren't talking. And she had to admit, it was a little fun at times, but she really missed Jake. She wanted to hold his hand, kiss him sweetly, whisper sweet nothings in his ear! She wanted them to be a couple! These little moments they had in the bathrooms or in their cabins weren't enough. Only a couple more hours, she told herself, and then we'll be off the cruise and free to be together!

"I can't wait until we get off this boat!" She said to Jake after they broke for air.

"Me either, Peyton." Jake said, stroking her hair, "You, me, Lucas, and Brooke can all go hang out afterwards. We can meet somewhere far away from any photographers." He said, smiling.

"Sounds good." Peyton said.

"I was worried that you were actually mad at me earlier. I mean, I know we said this had to be secret, but you can still talk to me in public, you know."

"I know... It's just weird... I don't really know how to act around someone I'm having a secret romance with."

"Oh, well I've had so many I'm practically a pro at it!" Jake joked. Peyton hit him lightly.

"I just don't like all the sneaking around and stuff. I want to actually be a couple, Jake."

"I know, I'm sorry," Jake said. He had noticed that last couple of days that while they enjoyed being together, the whole secrecy thing was still bugging her. And it was bugging him too. "I want us to be an actual couple, too. And in like a matter of minutes, we will be." He said bending down to give her another kiss.

"I'm sorry about everything, Peyton." Jake said when they broke apart. "You shouldn't have had to go through all this."

"It's fine, Jake. You're worth it." Peyton said, kissing him once again, with a knee-weakening, sensual kiss.

"I love you, Peyton. I really mean it." Jake said, uttering the words he had never said out loud to Peyton, but that he had felt for quite some time now.

"I love you, too, Jake. So much." She said, meaning it with all her heart and soul.

---

**AN: Ok guys, two more chapters to go! Well actually technically one more chapter and then an epilogue. Please review! I hope you liked it, thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Thanks for the wonderful reviews to: S0phiaVal3nntine, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06!! Alright, I guess technically this is the last chapter, but stay tuned for an epilogue next week; there will definitely be one, in fact it's already written.**

**Chapter 15**

Peyton's POV

"And then he looked right into my eyes, and said he loved me." I finished retelling Brooke the events of earlier that day. OK, I know I'm not the type to gush about boys, tell the same romantic story over and over again. In fact, I'm not even the type to admit that I have a romantic story to tell in the first place. Or I should say I wasn't. It's funny how your whole life you think you know who you are. And then one day, or one person can change that forever. One single human being can make you rethink your whole purpose in life, your whole life in general.

"Aw, P. Sawyer, that is adorable!" Brooke squealed. She promised me that she wouldn't get too excited, because she was the one driving, but I was seeing that she was about to break that promise. "Oh my gosh, please tell me you said it back!" She exclaimed frantically.

I laughed, "Of course! Brooke, I've never felt like this about anyone before. It's amazing!" I really couldn't get over how giddy I was. Ever since I had left the bathroom and had to leave Jake, I could not get my mind anywhere else.

"Well, I'm glad. It's about time."

"What does that mean?" I said playfully.

"Please, I realized that you and Jake would fall in love from day one, and it took you two and a half weeks!" OK, so this was true... Brooke was always psychic when it came to this stuff.

"Oh yeah? Well I knew from day one that you and Lucas would fall in love, too!"

She gave me a knowing look and winked, "So did I."

---

Jake's POV

"Why aren't they here yet, they should be here by now, right?" I asked Lucas.

"Relax, it's only four. We said to meet here at four-ten." Lucas said, looking at me as if I were crazy. I resent that, I'm not crazy...

"Well, I mean they weren't making any stops so they should have gotten here when we got here, maybe we should call them? What is something happened?" I said. I'm not crazy, I'm _not_! was the message I was sending him, telepathically of course.

"Look, Jake. Why don't we wait ten minutes before calling, ok?" Lucas said, as if he were talking to a ten year old. I felt dumb. I felt really dumb. What was I becoming? The frantic boyfriend, who wants to call his girl 24/7? "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," I said, about to just leave it at that. But then I realized, hey this is Lucas I'm talking to. If I'm not going to talk to him, then who am I going to talk to, right? Plus, he's totally in love with Brooke, he has to understand what I'm going through, right? "Ok, fine, not nothing. It's Peyton."

"What a surprise," Lucas said sarcastically.

"It's just..." I started, choosing to ignore his comment, "We live miles away. I'm only going to get to see her maybe once a week."

"That's not that bad." Lucas said, trying to make it better.

"Lucas, have you been listening to me? I can barely last half an hour away from her, what am I going to do?"

"Jake, listen to me. Ok?" Lucas said, trying to calm me down. It actually kind of worked. I nodded. "Alright," he continued, "It could be much worse. You two could be on opposite sides of the country, but you're not. I mean, trust me, what you're going through right now is what I've been going through the past few days with Brooke. But you know what she said?"

"What?" I asked, very curious. Brooke always had interesting things to say. And often had excellent advice.

"She said that I should just accept it. That the time I'm spending worrying about our time apart, is putting a damper on the time that we're together. Do you see what she meant?"

I nodded. Yes, I did. "So, how do I do that? How do I just accept it?"

"Well, for starters, you really need to chill," he said, "How about we change the subject. We have ten minutes before the girls come, why don't you tell me about what you and Peyton were off doing sneaking into the bathroom?" He said raising his eyebrows and smirking.

---

General POV

"And then I looked straight into her eyes and-" Jake was saying, telling the events of earlier that day to Lucas, who was listening intently. Of course, Jake was telling the story in a completely G rated fashion, because Jenny was sitting right next to him. Ok, so she was sleeping, but he wanted to be safe anyways.

"And told her you loved her. Yes, yes, we know already!" Brooke interrupted from behind, causing both Lucas and Jake to jump about ten feet in the air. They turned around to see Brooke standing there with a cute smile on her face, and Peyton next to her, covering her giggles behind her hand.

"Hello, ladies," Lucas said, a smile playing on his face at Jake's embarrassed expression.

"Hi, boyfriend," Brooke said, skipping off to sit next to Lucas in the booth, then kissing him hello. Peyton sat down next to Jake, and built up the courage to lean over and give him a peck on the cheek.

"Hey," He said, that kiss relaxing him a little. For some reason he was really nervous.

"Hi," She said, a little nervous herself. But when she looked into his gorgeous eyes, she found herself completely calm. Unfortunately, their little starring contest didn't last long.

"Oh my gosh! Tutor-girl?" Brooke exclaimed, causing Peyton to look up. And sure enough there was Haley James, sitting at a table not far from them. Haley had recently become closer to Brooke and Peyton and she was really starting to grow on them. But wait a second. She was with someone. A guy!

"Whoa! That isn't who I think it is, is it?" I asked, but Brooke didn't need to answer my question. He turned around when Haley got up to greet us. "Nathan?!"

"Nathan Scott? Here with Haley James?" Brooke exclaimed. Peyton could have sworn Brooke was about to hyperventilate or something. "How? When? Where? What?"

"Whoa, slow down Brooke," Haley said nervously.

"I can't! This is too huge! Are you two...?"

"Together?" Haley said as Nathan wrapped an arm around her waist. "Yeah," She said sweetly. She was always a shy girl, never wanting to be the center of attention. But her dating Nathan Scott? No one would have predicted that! However, looking at the two right now, Brooke and Peyton couldn't help but absolutely love them together.

"But who cares," Haley continued, "Who are these two guys sitting with you? Looks kind of like a double-date if you ask me."

---

A few awkward introductions, some plates of curly-fries, and hell of a lot of catching up later, the six of them ended up being the only ones left in the diner. And as much as Peyton and Jake regretted this being their last night together at least for a couple of days, they still wanted to make the best of it. But they hadn't gotten any time alone yet. When Peyton noticed that their conversations were soon becoming sweet nothings exchanged between couples, she leaned over and whispered in Jake's ear.

"You wanna go somewhere?" She said her lips almost touching his ear, sending a shiver down Jake's body.

"Where'd you have in mind?" Jake asked, and followed her gaze to the bathroom just a few feet away, and chuckled.

"Meet me there in five minutes," She said, getting up and walking away, without looking back. And of course five minutes later, everyone noticed what Jake was going to do when he got up and excused himself, but no one said a thing. In fact, everyone was pretty much in their own little couple-world by then.

Anticipation built up within Jake during those five minutes. He let out a big breath he'd been holding in as he knocked on the door and then entered. Right after he had closed the door behind he, Peyton threw herself to him and bombarded him with kisses. Whatever nervousness, shyness, and insecurity disappeared during that kiss. All that that kiss portrayed was passion, and love. Peyton tangled her hands in his hair, pulling his head down, deepening their kiss. Jake was holding on to her waist for dear life, never wanting to let her go.

After repeating these actions several times, Peyton rested her head against Jake's chest and caught her breath. "That was nice," She stated simply, making Jake smile. Freaking amazing is more like it, Jake thought to himself.

"What am I going to do without you?" Jake whispered into her hair. "I'm going to come visit you every chance I get."

"Mmm," Peyton said, wishing that they could just stay like that forever, "I look forward to it. I'm going to miss you, Jake Jigelski."

"I'm going to miss you more, Peyton Sawyer. And even though I won't always be there, you have to know that there won't be a second of any day that I won't be thinking of you." Peyton looked up and kissed him again.

"Can you imagine, I almost didn't go on the cruise. I'm so glad I went. It's probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me." She said honestly.

"Me too. And there I was thinking it was going to be just a ride. Nothing more," Jake said gazing into her beautiful green eyes, "Boy was I wrong." He leaned down to kiss her one more time before they came back out.

Peyton and Jake both had their doubts. How could they not? He was in college, she was in high school. When you add in the distance, the fact that Jake is a single father, luck was definitely not on their side. But if there was one thing that they did know for sure, it was that love was definitely on their side. And it will always be on their side, no matter what.

THE END

---

**AN: I really really really hope that you guys liked it! As I said before, this is not the real 'end', there will be an epilogue! Please review, and thank you guys for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16 Epilogue

**AN: Thanks for the amazing reviews to: S0phiaVal3ntine, OTH.daddy'sgurl.06, and MarinaW! Oh yeah, and just so you know, I wrote this chapter with an idea in mind, and it turned into something completely different! It's almost a story within a story, so yeah, it may not be what you're expecting, but I hope you like it anyways! (I think you will). **

**Things to know: it's set a little in the future, you'll find out how much in the chapter. And it's all written in a General POV. The flashbacks are in italics. and song lyrics in bold. (sorry if it's a little confusing) ENJOY!**

**Chapter 16: EPILOGUE**

"And then...?" Dr. Philip asked Peyton for the third time. And then? And then what? Peyton didn't really know for sure. That is why she stayed silent. Avoiding the question? Maybe. But truthfully and honestly, she couldn't really put her answer into words.

"Listen Philip..." Peyton started, knowing what was coming.

"That's Dr. Philip." He said, pushing his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. Peyton couldn't help thinking, if you're going to be calling yourself a _doctor_ then why use your first name? And anyways, she could hardly call him her "doctor."

"Right. Well, you asked me 'and then?' But what am I supposed to say?" Peyton said. She knew she was not being fair. She was in a mood. In fact she had been in a bad mood for... what, three years? When Dr. Philip didn't answer, she continued. "You see, I think you already know the answer to that question. I mean, isn't that what I'm here for? For you to tell me the answers. For you to analyze _me_?"

"On the contrary, Ms. Sawyer. You are here to analyze yourself."

"Well in that case I already know myself. Does that mean I'm done?" She knew very well that she wasn't done. In fact Brooke had told her when she made her sign up for these therapy treatments, that she had to at least meet with the guy five times. And she was only one her second.

"If you already know your self, Peyton, then why don't you tell me. What happened after that cruise you were on."

Peyton swallowed. She didn't resent Brooke for making her get a therapist. She knew that she had changed. She knew that these past three years had put her in a not so good place. In fact, she even knew that she may need 'professional' help. Maybe this just wasn't the right person.

"After the cruise?"

**In many ways, they'll miss the good old days**

**Someday, someday**

_"What time is it?" Peyton asked again, frantically. _

_"The same time it was when you asked twenty seconds ago. 5:24." Brooke said rolling her eyes, and laughing at her best friend. She had never seen her this way. Frantic, excited, nervous and overjoyed all at once. It was nice._

_Peyton sighed, "Okay... okay, six minutes... How can I keep myself busy for six minutes?" She said while running around the room._

_"I would say you could sketch, but it seems that your hands are shaking," Brooke said giggling. "What has gotten into you?"_

_"Nothing... nothing... it's just... well, I haven't seen Jake in two weeks, you know? I miss him." Peyton said._

_"Peyton, it's more than that. You've spent more than two weeks away from him before, and you weren't half as nervous as you are right now. What is it?" Brooke said, always knowing her way around Peyton's lies._

_"Okay, well you know how me and Jake, we haven't... well, we haven't... you know..." She said, hoping she would get the gist. Which she of course did, as her eyes widened and she squealed._

_"Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, you want to have sex?"_

_"Yes."_

_"With Jake?"_

_"Of course!"_

_"Today?"_

_"Well, yeah," Peyton said. She was more sure than ever. They were half way into the school year and every second away from Jake, she missed him like crazy. Fortunately she got to see him at least twice a month. And his last few visits she could tell that... well he was growing impatient, and they were growing closer and closer. It seemed like the only thing left to do, and the thing they both wanted the most. They talked incessantly, and they e-mailed everyday, and lately their conversations and e-mails had become... well, heated._

_Before Peyton could snap out from her thoughts, she was suddenly attacked by Brooke's bear hug. "I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" She recited over and over again, making Peyton almost regret having told her._

"I just..." Jake said, stumbling over his words, like he always did when he was uncomfortable.

"What? Just say it! I can't believe this, the least you could do is tell me why?"

"I just.. I just don't think it's really... working out." He said, trying to choose his words just right, but ending up sounding like any ordinary loser trying to break up.

"I don't understand where this is coming from, Jake. You don't have any explanation? Jake felt horrible. Really, he did. Angela was a great girl. She just wasn't great for him. For some reason, in the last three years he hadn't found any girl that was great for him. But when he met Angela, he decided to give it a shot. Why not, right? And she was nice. She was fun. She was attractive. But she wasn't _her_. And for some reason his mind could only concentrate on that last part. And while their relationship was pretty solid, at least an outsider looking in would think so, for a few months, he really was never that into it.

Of course, that would be much too long, and painful for him to say to her as an 'explanation.' "I'm sorry," He said, lamely. He felt terrible for giving her the lame, dumb typical 'break-up speech.' But he didn't really want to go to deep into things.

"Jake... I have tried to make you open up to me. I guess you're just not ready for that." Jake stayed silent, and looked at the floor. What she said was true. "So... well, it was fun hanging out with you. I hope we can still be friends."

She was saying all the right things. All the things that he should have been saying. "Yes, absolutely... I'm really sorry about this, Angela. It's like you said: I think I'm just not ready..." But unfortunately, he really didn't think he would ever be read to really let anyone else in. Because to do that he would have to get over it. Meaning he would have to finally tell someone about all his pent-up feelings, and that would just open up old wounds and memories that he didn't wand to go into.

**Yeah, it hurts to say, but I want you to stay**

**Sometimes, sometimes**

_Once Peyton and Jake were finally alone in her room, they had managed to say a few word to each other before frantically ripping each other's clothes off. Jake kissed her hard, and passionately, a mind-blowing kiss that left Peyton weak in the knees. They couldn't get enough of each other._

_"You sure you want to do this?" Jake asked, catching his breath. He didn't want to do anything she might regret. He had to remember that she was still in high school, and even though he had been wanting this for quite some time, she may not have been so enthused._

_Peyton kissed him lightly, but lovingly. "More than ever," She replied. Her head was spinning. Her heart was beating faster than it ever had before. Her stomach was doing flip-flops and she couldn't tear her eyes away from Jake. And not just because of how sexy he looked right at the moment in his wife-beater and boxers, but because he was actually there, standing right in front of her- the love of her life. She couldn't believe her luck._

_**When we was young, oh man, did we have fun**_

_**Always, always**_

_It wasn't long before they re-attached themselves to each other. For some couples the night of their first time together, is the most important of their whole relationship. But why just choose one day? For Peyton and Jake, everyday they spent together was the best. Of course, only when they became one, only when they made love for the first time, did they truly realize just how important they were to each other. And they knew that after they had done that, they had made a silent, unsaid promise to each other._

_**Promises, they break before they're made**_

_**Sometimes, sometimes**_

"Mhm... mhm..." Dr. Philip said, pensively as he scribbled his notes on a pad of paper. Peyton never thought that therapists did that, she always thought it was just in the movies. Apparently, she was wrong. "And how did that make you feel?"

How did that make her feel? Wonderful. Amazing. Sexy. Beautiful. Of course that was then. And this, sadly, is now. And now, having to recount the most magical, intimate night of her life to a complete stranger was making her feel... well, anything but those things.

"Oh, look at the time. It looks like our session is over." She said just as the seconds hand hit the twelve and it had officially been one hour in the devil's lair.

"Um, Peyton. Just one more moment, please."

"Well, I'm only paying you for one hour, I feel like I would be taking advantage of you if I stayed longer. So-"

"I just want to talk with you for a minute."

"I really actually have somewhere I need to-"

"The sooner you let me talk to you, the sooner I let you go." He said. God, he was good. Peyton gave up and sat back down. "Peyton... while I see you opening up _a little_ more since our first meeting. I'm a little concerned."

"And why is that?" Peyton asked, knowing the answer.

"There's a reason why you signed up for these sessions. You know, you can't expect to get help, if I don't even know what you need help with. I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but if you want to get anything out of these sessions than you have to open up more. I understand if you're not comfortable, you can always come to me when you're ready. You may go now."

While walking back to her apartment, she realized something. Dr. Philip may have thought that they didn't get anywhere with those two sessions, and up until now, Peyton thought the same. But in that last minute of the session, he had opened her eyes like nothing else had in the past three years. All this time she had wanted to get away from it all, to think of anything but that. Actually opening up to someone, other than Brooke, and maybe re-telling the story, talking about her feelings, maybe that would help her to accept everything.

But that mean she would have to think about that night. That one night that everything changed. That one night that marked the period from when she was happy, to when she was no-longer happy. From when she was taken, to when she was single. And from when she was truly herself, to when she stepped out of herself.

**Oh, My-ex says I'm lacking in depth**

**I will do my best**

_She tried to look at his face, but it was becoming blurry from her teary eyes. She sniffed, and tried to gain composure, but once he spoke she soon lost it again._

_"Don't cry, Peyton. Please don't cry, I don't know if I could take it." Jake said, his voice shaking._

_"I know, I'm sorry," She said as fresh tears rolled down her face. This was her fault. This was all her fault._

_"No, don't be sorry... God, I wish this wasn't happening..." Jake said. Why was this so hard? The words of love, the memories, they happened. And they were all so real. So why was this so hard? Why was this happening right now? He didn't understand. _

_Peyton had heard of love fading. But this wasn't it. At least, she didn't think it was. True love doesn't fade. That's what she always thought. But her and Jake have true love. Or maybe they had it. Lost in a world of despair, her silent tears turned to sobs, and she could barely breath through them. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen._

_**You say you wanna stay by my side**_

_**Darlin', your head's not right**_

_**See, alone we stand, together we fall apart**_

_"Me too," Peyton managed to say, "I don't regret anything, Jake... Not one single thing," She said, calming down, but not looking at him directly yet. That was just too hard. What she was really saying was that although she was crying, and maybe in a bad place right then, she was in a way happy. She was happy that she had been able to enjoy their love and time spent together. She was happy that they had made love. _

_Maybe she had been a little too happy. After that memorable night, she had felt closer to him than she had to anyone, even Brooke. She felt like he knew her better than she did. She felt like he understood her, like he completed her. And she knew he felt the same. She knew from the way he kissed her, from the way he touched her, and from his sincere loving words._

_"Me either... I still love you, you know? With all my heart," Jake said, happy to hear that she didn't regret a thing, but still a little sad. He wasn't angry, wasn't disappointed. He definitely wasn't surprised when she had brought it up. They both knew this was coming. And they both dreaded the day the one of them would have to bring it up. And it was a million times harder than Jake had ever thought it would be._

_Maybe Peyton needed more. Maybe it wasn't just his loving words, his kissed and the way he touched her. Maybe she just wanted him. All of him. All the time. But that couldn't happen. Hell, she was still in high school! And this relationship was more intense, more real and most people had a chance to experience in their whole lives. Making love just intensified their relationship. It just made her miss him even more when he was away. Which he was, most of the time. _

_It was just all too much. Too intense. Too close. Too serious. She couldn't get herself too deep into it, and living off of seeing him only twice a month. She knew he felt it too, which made it a little easier. A little, but not much. _

_"I know you do," I love you too, she wanted to say. But it was best to just leave it at that. It was just easier._

_**Yeah, I think I'll be alright**_

_**I'm working so I won't have to try so hard**_

_**Tables, they turn sometimes**_

"She just... she just wasn't your type." Lucas said, trying to make Jake feel better about breaking up with Angela.

"No, no, no, she was definitely my type. She was pretty. She was fun, and sweet. She made the first move... Do you think I made a mistake?" Jake said, but he could have answered that question himself. He knew he hadn't made a mistake. He knew he did what was right. He couldn't keep leading Angela on like that. Pretending that he was in it 100.

"Honestly, no. I know you liked her, and I know she was nice. But that's pretty much it. Jake, you're the one who broke up with her."

"I know..."

"So, there must have been a reason. Now, personally, I think I know the reason. But I'm leaving it up to you to figure it out. Hopefully, once you've found it you'll make the right decisions. Good luck, buddy." Lucas said, and then left Jake alone with his thoughts. Jake sighed. Of course he already knew the reason. It had been the same reason why he never found any inspiration to write a song anymore. The same reason he still had trouble sleeping at night. The same reason he couldn't seem to have a girlfriend for more than a few months in the last three years.

He was suddenly brought back to reality by his daughter, now almost seven year old Jenny, came into the room. She had that look on her face. That knowing look.

"Have you been listening to Uncle Lucas and Daddy's conversation?" Jake said picking her up onto his lap. She had a thing with eavesdropping. Such an intelligent young girl. She nodded shamefully.

"No more Angela?" She said. She wasn't sad, or happy. In fact, she had probably seen it coming. Jake had a thing with not letting Jenny get too close with whomever he dated recently. It had just been to hard after Peyton. Jenny missed her like crazy, but after a while, she stopped asking about her.

"No more Angela. I'm sorry, baby," Jake said. He didn't want to give the impression to his daughter that he was some serial dater, and never serious. But it seemed he was doing that anyways. Jenny was getting used to him starting relationships and then ending them soon after. But that still didn't make it okay. And Jake knew that.

"That's okay, daddy..."

"Hey! I've got an idea. How about we take a road trip, hun? Just you and me?" He was in a better mood already, when he saw his daughter's face light up.

"Okay! Where?"

"How about Tree Hill?" He said, expecting to dread the words right after they leave his mouth. But he didn't. In fact, he was disappointed that he didn't do this before. No more waiting around, he told himself. Jenny looked at him knowingly. She had been with him to visit Peyton in Tree Hill three years ago, but Jake had guessed that she wouldn't remember. Of course she did. "How about... we go see Peyton?"

**Oh, someday...**

**No I ain't wastin' no more time**

_Peyton starred at the phone. Two days. They had only been broken up for two days. Then why did it feel like two years? Why did it feel like it had been so long since she'd heard his voice? The answer to those questions, she couldn't figure out. She didn't understand, she was the one who broke up with him. Yeah, but it's not like it was her fault! But it's not like it was Jake's fault either!_

_This ongoing argument with herself had been going on in her head for two whole, long days._

_"You need to get out of the house," Brooke decided one day._

_"Am I becoming pathetic?" Peyton said, knowing very well that she had reached the pathetic line, long ago. _

_"A little," She answered with a sympathetic look on her face._

_"I need to call him," Peyton said for the trillionth time. Brooke always had the same reaction. For some reason she always believed her, got excited and waited for her to call him. And she never did. It seems that by now she had learned. She just smiled._

_"Than call him."_

_"But see, I'm the one who broke up with him. He probably doesn't ever want to see him again or hear from me. I mean what message would it send. One day I break it off and then two days later I call him? No. This is just the kind of thing that takes time. In due time, I will get over him."_

She never got over him. She waited and she waited. She didn't call him. Barely talked about him. For three whole years. And she wasn't over him. As she glanced at the phone right now, she couldn't help but feel the old Peyton inside her. The Peyton that spent days and days starring at that phone, hesitating to just pick it up and call him. And then never calling him. And spending three whole years not getting over him.

Her mind suddenly went somewhere, she never allowed it to go before. Jake. Of course she had always been thinking of him. However, she forced herself to push those thoughts aside. And sometimes it worked. But now, she allowed it. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he seeing anyone? Does he miss her? Has he spent days starring at the phone?

Her mind had never wandered so far. She found herself spending hours just thinking of Jake and Jenny. And something happened that she would have never even imagined. She slept better that night than she had in three years.

**So, I sometimes say**

**"Fate my friend, you say the strangest things**

**I find, sometimes"**

Peyton needed to go for a walk. Clear her head. Maybe shed some tears. She just needed some air. Grabbing her keys she ran out the door.

However, she didn't get very far. Because parked in her driveway, was one way-too-familiar car. She found her breaths getting shorter, her stomach getting lighter, and her head spinning. Because climbing out of the car was Jake Jagelski. And right next to him was little, or not so little anymore, Jenny Jagelski.

He looked over at her, right in her eyes. God, he had almost forgotten how beautiful she was. All the pictures, or dreams he'd had of her couldn't compare to the real her. But before he even had time to walk over to her, Jenny let go of his hand and sprinted over to give Peyton a hug.

She was surprised, confused, uncomfortable. And Jake could tell, even though she was trying to hide it. "Hey, Jenny! I missed you." She said, and Jake could have sworn he saw her eyes tear up a little. But quickly it was gone.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi, Jake." Peyton said.

**Oh... someday**

Peyton poured some coffee into two mugs and handed one to Jake. Jenny had been exhausted so she had been sleeping in Brooke's room. The hardest thing for Peyton to do was look at Jake, yet she couldn't keep her eyes off him. He looked good. The man she fell in love with. The man she was still in love with. The man that can to visit her, completely unexpected after three whole years of not speaking...

"So... how've you been?" He asked, looking a little nervous.

"What are you doing here, Jake?" Peyton asked. Not rudely, she just wanted to skip the small talk. They both knew that his reason for coming to Tree Hill was more than just to see how she was doing.

"Um... what am I doing here... yeah, that's um..." He said stuttering. But suddenly he took a deep breath and regained his composure. "You want to know why I'm here? Okay, well I'm not completely sure. But one thing I do know is that, I've missed you. Okay, I've missed you for the last three years. And if you didn't miss me, well then... I'm sorry for wasting your time." He said, and looked away uneasily.

Peyton drew a blank. She was speechless. Zero words were forming on her lips. He missed her? He had missed her this whole time?

"I guess," He continued, "I just... I had to see you, is what I'm trying to say. Because, Peyton, I think I'm still in love with you. In fact, I know I'm still in love with you." He sighed. He couldn't believe that he was saying this. He had a speech, a very well prepared speech but that was just thrown in the garbage. He just wanted to say what was on his mind. "I've been in love with you this whole time!"

"Jake-"

"And you know what?" Ok so Peyton was trying to say something, but Jake was on a roll here. He couldn't stop now, he had three years of thoughts to cover. "I think you've been in love with me this whole time, too. I know it. I knew it on the cruise when we first met, and I knew it when we left the cruise. I even... I even knew it the night we broke up, because if I've learned anything in my whole life, it's that when you have love in your life, you've got to hold onto it for dear life."

"Jake-"

"And so, I guess I'm here today, because I've wasted three years of my life ignoring that theory. And I don't want to waste anymore time."

"_Jake-_"

"Please don't say you have a boyfriend. Because if you do, I'll have to kiss his $$. Well, okay, not really 'cause I'm really not a violent person- but that's not the point. The point is that you belong with me." He said, pouring his heart and soul into that speech. He felt as if his life was on the line, which it may very well have been. He'd never wanted anything more in his whole life than just to have Peyton acknowledge him right then.

"Jake," She said, her heart racing at all the beautiful things he had just said. Is it possible to fall more in love with someone you were already deeply and madly in love with? Because if it is, than she just did. "Just... stop talking."

She reached up to touch one hand to his cheek, she had missed this. She smiled when his breath got caught in his throat at her touch. Their lips finally met, in a passionate, long-overdue, earth-shattering kiss.

And finally, everything was as it should be. Jake was with Peyton. Peyton was with Jake. And that's how it was going to stay.

**I ain't wasting no more time**

---

**AN: So I know that was really, really long, but once I got started it was hard to finish! haha, I really hope you enjoyed reading this story, guys. You should know that your support for this fic was amazing, and I loved all the reviews. It made me so happy to read them all and know that some people are enjoying my writing! Much Love from me to you! and don't forget to submit one last review! Thank you guys so much!**

Song Credit: Someday, by The Strokes

**Oh! And please look out for my two upcoming fics! One Naley one called Inevitable and one Jeyton one called Simply Because. They'll probably be posted next week!**


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